September 28, 2024

Want a Breakthrough? Go Away From The Algorithm.

The Un_Standard Manifesto for Discovery

When’s the last time you found your new favorite song not from Spotify’s “For You,” but from stumbling on the radio—or a playlist you’d never pick yourself?

In business, in creativity, in culture—most teams have fallen into auto-play. The algorithm knows your preferences. Your routines are optimized, comfortable. But that’s exactly how legendary brands get boring, bold talent gets minimized, and ideas shrink to a feed made up of your own assumptions.

At Un_Standard, we believe the most iconic movements start when you break your routine, break your playlist, and tune in to what’s just outside your comfort zone.

Why We Drift Into Echo Chambers

Refined systems are great—until they fossilize your thinking.

  • Algorithms show you more of what you already like (or what you already know how to solve).
  • Teams huddle with familiar partners, brainstorm the “tried-and-true,” and default to the same old frictionless meetings.
  • Before you know it, your input is so honed for comfort you can’t remember the last real surprise.

Innovation doesn’t happen with “more of the same.” It starts with friction, discomfort, and curiosity.

Join The Movement

Clarity is the new growth engine—ditch the templates and join the movement of bold brands rewriting the rules. Whether you’re launching, scaling, or leading, Un_Standard delivers anti-ordinary strategy, story, and systems built for every stage of growth. Ignite momentum with our solutions—all designed to smash bottlenecks, fuel creativity, and turn your business into a story worth following.
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Movement Insight: The Power of Deliberate Discovery

1. Venture Off-Format—And Make It a Habit

Every week, try something outside your usual:

  • Listen to a podcast in another language, or from an industry totally unlike yours.
  • Read a newsletter or report recommended by a competitor, not your echo chamber.

Apply to your team:

  • Switch up meeting leaders.
  • Invite a new department to your next brainstorm.
  • Host “off-algorithm” lunches where teams riff on viral fails, not safe success.

2. Make “Interaction Discomfort” Part of Your Rituals

Surprises, friction, even mild confusion—these are leading signals that you’re about to discover something real.

Movement Ritual:

  • “Wildcard Wednesday”: Each team member brings a book, campaign, or app from a field (or decade) no one regularly references.
  • “Random Mentor” sessions: Pair founders or senior leaders with team members from junior or peripheral roles, and push one core question: “What’s something we should try that we haven’t?”

3. Smash the “More of Me” Feedback Loop

Teams that build “for themselves” end up stuck, scaling sameness. The anti-ordinary move:

  • Ask a new customer, outsider, or unlikely friend to review your product, service, ad or process.
  • Run internal “reverse feedback” rituals, where juniors critique seniors—or ops reviews sales language.

The result? Discovery, discomfort, and sometimes sparks—real movement.

Modern Examples of Off-Algorithm Breakthroughs

  • Duolingo: Crowdsourced “memes gone viral” into push notifications and features, not because their core data told them so, but because a random intern said, “Why not?”
  • A growing SaaS ditched a tired Monday meeting for “Spotify Roulette.” Every week, a different leader picks a genre; mood and conversation veer off script and somewhere new—just like their most effective campaigns.
Photo by Patrick Chin

Why Real Movements Invite Friction (and So Should You)

When you listen to the same playlist every day, you never hear what else is out there.

Business works the same way: stick to the classic flowcharts, and you miss the wild card that would ignite your next leap.

Innovation is what happens when comfortable teams choose discomfort on purpose.

Your Anti-Comfort CTA

The best brands, leaders, and teams discover their “next big move” by listening wider, not just deeper.

Ditch the algorithm. Welcome the messy, the random, the unfamiliar.

At Un_Standard, we help teams build rituals for discovery—so clarity grows, breakthroughs compound, and no movement ever stagnates.

Book a Creative Discovery Sprint With Un_Standard →

Click to schedule a complimentary 15-minute call

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Agent Provocateur & Chief Creative Officer at Un_Standard. David helps ambitious brands unearth clarity, break the rules that hold them back, and co-create movement-level growth. When not challenging the status quo, he’s in the kitchen inventing new flavors or chasing after his three cats: Hallie Tosis, Lester Een, and Jim G. Vitis. #BeUnStandard

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