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Cultural Engineeringframework
The SAY-MEAN Gap
People don't know what they want until you show it to them. That's why we never rely on what they say.
2 min read
The ATM perspective
2026
What consumers say and what they mean are two different things. Steve Jobs said people don't know what they want until you show it to them — and he was partially wrong. The answer isn't to stop asking; it's to probe beneath the say to reach the mean. This framework shows how.