Electric shock and Tetris: a lesson from Cowboy 2025
Uncertainty is great to share
While listening to a podcast about change with Maya Shankar ( a cognitive psychologist) about how to strive in change, I learned about anxiety and uncertainty. We are way more anxious if we’re told that there is a 50% chance to get an electric choc than if we’re told there is a 100% chance we’re going to receive one.
It reminded me of most of the comments Cowboy has received during 2025, and still does now.
People are angry about not receiving their bikes or not knowing when the recall for their current bike is going to happen. And that is because Cowboy did not communicate anything.
Of course, it’s easy to say in hindsight. Hindsight is also about learning from our mistakes.
My guess is, as I wasn’t really working at Cowboy yet when the blackout started - and marketing/customer success is not my department, that the group decision was that it needed to protect its image by not communicating uncertainties, by not communicating vulnerabilities.
It’s maybe because I love to follow current “Psychology leaders” - like Adam Grant and Laurie Santos - but I feel like Cowboy would have gained from sharing their vulnerability. Again, it’s easy to say when everything has happened. Yet, I think it’s good to learn from it.
I became aware of that the company was not at its best at understanding the value of contemporary psychology when the customer success managers complained they couldn’t offer any thing that had monetary value. I would have said that people who call cowboy for support do not want to receive things most of the time - giving and receiving thing de-values relationships.
Communication in a way was also a lesson from the future-scenario workshop: two of the scenarios were about AI eroding trust. If AI floods the internet with deepfakes, the world doesn’t really get better, and neither does the company. We didn’t get to finish the workshop, but what would have been an obvious learning is that Cowboy needs to be way more transparent from now on to fight off deepfakes and gain more trust.
Going on a small tangent about uncertainty: uncertainty is also exciting ( there’s not much difference in the brain between excitement and anxiety - that’s why before a presentation, if you’re anxious, you can raise your arms and tell yourself you’re excited and you’ll feel actually better ). Uncertainty is the stuff of video games. Tetrix is fun because we don’t know the piece that will come after next - hence sharing uncertainty is also the stuff that will make people pay interest.
It reminded me of most of the comments Cowboy has received during 2025, and still does now.
People are angry about not receiving their bikes or not knowing when the recall for their current bike is going to happen. And that is because Cowboy did not communicate anything.
Of course, it’s easy to say in hindsight. Hindsight is also about learning from our mistakes.
My guess is, as I wasn’t really working at Cowboy yet when the blackout started - and marketing/customer success is not my department, that the group decision was that it needed to protect its image by not communicating uncertainties, by not communicating vulnerabilities.
It’s maybe because I love to follow current “Psychology leaders” - like Adam Grant and Laurie Santos - but I feel like Cowboy would have gained from sharing their vulnerability. Again, it’s easy to say when everything has happened. Yet, I think it’s good to learn from it.
I became aware of that the company was not at its best at understanding the value of contemporary psychology when the customer success managers complained they couldn’t offer any thing that had monetary value. I would have said that people who call cowboy for support do not want to receive things most of the time - giving and receiving thing de-values relationships.
Communication in a way was also a lesson from the future-scenario workshop: two of the scenarios were about AI eroding trust. If AI floods the internet with deepfakes, the world doesn’t really get better, and neither does the company. We didn’t get to finish the workshop, but what would have been an obvious learning is that Cowboy needs to be way more transparent from now on to fight off deepfakes and gain more trust.
Going on a small tangent about uncertainty: uncertainty is also exciting ( there’s not much difference in the brain between excitement and anxiety - that’s why before a presentation, if you’re anxious, you can raise your arms and tell yourself you’re excited and you’ll feel actually better ). Uncertainty is the stuff of video games. Tetrix is fun because we don’t know the piece that will come after next - hence sharing uncertainty is also the stuff that will make people pay interest.