Recognition of the needs of the majority when not being part of it (socially, intellectually,...)?

Disclaimer first: the scope of this question is not to create polemics. The question is not elitist but based on reality. I am facing this business problem: How to recognize the needs of the "citizen lambda" when you are not a citizen lambda? Let assume that you, as businessman/programmer/..., are well educated, independent, with an intelligence well above the average. Your friends and colleagues are in huge majority in the same situation (in short, your social and working environment reflect you).

So let assume more: you don't really know (or just superficially) the needs, concerns and interests of the average people who are (if one believes the normal distribution laws) the most numerous and thus represents one "big potential client". You live in "another world" with another interests and another problems.

Is there some ethically and socially acceptable way to cope with these differences (without pink glasses showing that "we are all the same" - as it is the case here in European Union)? Perhaps in USA it's not seen in such a politically corect way? Here in EU, asking this kind of question is almost taboo.

And how to get the feedback from "lambda clients"? By surveys asking in the same time for their social status (education & salary) and then by working in specific way with the results coming from that group? The problem I see here: nobody wants to say (or even admit) that he is "just average".

The situation you are describing here isn't an assumption, it's a statement of reality.

The solution to the 'problem' you describe is precisely what good Product Design, Service Design, and Design Thinking more generally, does.

I generally agree with what Nick has commented... identifying, targeting, and fulfilling a widespread need is what great design thinking is all about.

Personally, my response to your question (especially in light of your comment on Nick's answer) would be that #1) you're thinking about it too much, and at the same time #2) not thinking about it enough. If you want to be an entrepreneur, do it!

Starting with #2: Sit down and make yourself identify "needs" and "solutions" that you can build business models around. Once you have this habit going (do one a week? one a month?) be deliberate about thinking 'outside your box'.

If your impetus for a 'need' is data-driven market research, good on you. That's pretty impressive to have access to that kind of hard data AND the skills to make sense of it.

Towards my point #1: My own experience working in a global Fortune 50 conglomerate and comparing that to a $10 million/yr startup I've been a part of is this: you just won't have the resources or scale to compete in the 'things everybody needs' categories. There are people whose entire careers are built on identifying and designing the next new thing for a huge swath of the market. Start smaller. Stay specific. Thankfully, there are resources like kickstarter that allow you to execute (profitably) on ideas that 'enough people need'.

So start shooting at things you can actually conceptualize and execute. Force yourself to get in the habit of identifying needs and solutions first. Then start applying that skill towards problems that might be less applicable to you and your bourgeoisie friends :) and more relevant to citizen lambda. The one thing I have learned from market research (that's what that $10 million startup was/is) is that everyone is simultaneously the same, and different. It just depends on how you draw the categories.