Rethinking Belief Systems: How Comfort Leads to Confusion Key takeaways: • Rethinking assumptions can be a threat to people’s comfort levels, and can lead to frustration. • It is important to be aware of this, and to be sensitive to the needs of those around you.
Speaker 1
And, you know, wha, why do i have such a hard time admitting when i’m not? And that, you now, i think that was a sort of a defining moment. And then, you know, much later, i feel like my job as an organizational psychologist is, you know, is to really think again about how we work, how we lead, how we live, and to motivate other People to do that too. And my most frustrating experiences, as an author, as a speaker, as a researcher, as a teacher, as a consultant, are always when people are not willing to rethink assumptions that i Think they ought to be questioning. And so, you know, just over the past few years, the number of conversations had with with founders and ceos where i i give them the best evidence i have available, and they say, well, that’s,
Speaker 3
That’s not how we do things around here, or that’s not the way i’ve always done things. And i just, i just want to come back to them and say, you know, blockbuster, blackberry, kodak, seers, you know it. You should definitely not rethink anything in your vision, strategy or business model.
Speaker 1
And so i guess, j j win, youknow, when i have both personal and professional experiences that drive me insane on the same topic, i feel like there might be a problem worth tackling or a
Speaker 2
Question worth writing about, as great answered in in reading the book, it made me wonder if people’s not band with but their comfort level is so low that our people finding comfort in Belief systems, and that’s the thing that they can rely on, because there’s so little to rely on. And and so rethinking is a threat to one of the few comforts left?
Speaker 3
That’s such an interesting question.The Relationship Between Belief and Control Key takeaways: • When people lack control in one domain of their lives, they become motivated to seek it and try to regain it in other parts of their lives. • One way that people may try to regain control is by rallying around beliefs that they believe are true.
Speaker 1
And they found that if you had a really controlling boss, that you actually became more authoritarian, as apparent with children. Which was just kind of a stunning spill over for me. You know, to think that the way you get treated at work might affect the way that you raise your children just never would have occurred to me. And i think that body of research, and a whole bunch of other studies that followed, kind of, they made me start to think about this basic truth, that when we lack control in one domain Of our lives, we become motivated to seek it and try to regain it in other parts of our lives. And i think, you know, especially in the wake of this pandemic and o global recession, we’re facing a lot of threats to control now. And i wonder if if part of what people are doing is theire grasping at the things they do have control over. And one of the things we all have control over is what we believe. And so, you know, holding fast to the things that i think are true, they make that sort of makes the world feel more predictable, less uncertain. It also gives me a sense of longing with whoever my tribe is. It validates my world view. And i’ve even wondered if, you know, if that’s part of why the the george floyd protests, you know, really rose up when they did.AI creates a tension around control — both for the people whose careers and sense of agency it disrupts, and for the companies building it, who are racing to secure funding even as the technology evolves faster than their ability to steer it.Finding Your Voice: How to Use Your Preaching, Prosecution and Political Mindsets to Rethink Key takeaways: • The author rethought the way he wrote his first book after realizing that he was constrained by a framework when he wrote originals, and that this framework allowed him to write more freely and with more cohesion between chapters. • The author then decided to be open to finding an overarching framework, but not be attached to it, and found that this was the best approach for him.
Speaker 1
So that i feel like one of the things that i’ve rethought twice now as i’ve been writing books, is i wrote my first book, give and take with with a whole framework to organize the world in Terms of giver, sacres and matchers. And then i didn’t want to be constrained by a framework like that when i wrote originals, and i felt like i over corrected and there wasn’t enough connective tissue between the different Chapters. I felt like i had a lot of interesting trees, but the forest was not clear enough. And so i decided when i was writing thing and that i was going to be open to finding an overarching framework, but i was not going to be attached to one. And that that felt like the sweet spot.
Speaker 3
And about half way through the writing, it hit me, and i had to rewrite the book from scratch.
Speaker 1
The framework was my my colleague, phil tetlock, where he observed that whatever your job or career is, that you span disproportioned hamount of your time thinking like certain professions. He said, look, you know, there are moments when we think like preachers, prosecutors and politicians. And i think that all three of these mind sets can stand in the way of rethinking.
Speaker 3
Because when you’re preaching, you’re already convinced tha you’ve found the truth, and so you don’t to question any of your assumptions.
Speaker 1
When you’re prosecuting, you are trying to win your case.
Speaker 3
That means the other side is wrong, and so you’ve got to get them to do all the rethinking. But you get to standstill.The Problem with Thinking Like a Scientist Key takeaways: • Thinking like a scientist helps question assumptions and rethink oneself. • The first step is to form hypotheses and test them.
Speaker 3
And the problem is then that i get too close minded.
Speaker 1
And so i’m trying to get on a prosecutor mode and spend more time thinking like a scientist, which is something i think we could all learn to do better.
Speaker 5
I is funny.
Speaker 2
Ha, in the book, you say, i think the first time you recalled a logic bully, it actually was something that you liked, that at first appealed to you.
Speaker 3
I was proud.
Speaker 1
I thought, ye, that’s my job as a social scientist. I want to destimate your bad arguments with rigorous evidence and air tight logic, and i’m good. And then i didn’t like the bully part so much as i thought about it more.
Speaker 2
Given that, what are some of your favorite practice for questioning your own assumptions and for rethinking yourself?
Speaker 1
I think the the first one for me is just the basic idea of thinking like a scientist, to say that, you know, what scientists do is, instead of forming beliefs, they actually form hypotheses. And so instead of having an opinion that’s set in stone, that means, ok, this is a hunch, how would i go and test it? And you know, i don’t think that we have to always operate like we’re in a lab, right, with a bunch of test tubes, but i do think that we should all be running experiments in our lives.The Importance of Being Curious Key takeaways: • Experiments can help us learn more about ourselves and our lives. • It is important to be clear about what we don’t know, so that we are more curious and humble.
Speaker 1
And you know, i don’t think that we have to always operate like we’re in a lab, right, with a bunch of test tubes, but i do think that we should all be running experiments in our lives. So during the penemic, example, i have, instead of assuming there’s a routine that’s going to work for me, i’ve run experiments to say, ok, what if i shift my creative brain storming From the morning to the night? What is that due, you know, to to the number of original ideas that i generate? What if i turn my camera off during a zo meeting? Do i actually have, you know, more a more reflective, more thoughtful discussion? And all of those, you know, those those little changes and adjustments that we make, we could think about them as experiments. And then we could say, ok, well, you know what, what information, what data, do i need in order to find out if that was a successful or failed experiment? And i i think that’s a huge step. And i guess the other thing iud just put on the table is, when i was writing things again, i made a list of all the things that i know i’m completely ignorant about. And my goal was was actually not to reduce the list, it was to expand the list, because i feel like the more i know about what i don’t know, the more curious i am, and the more i’m going to learn From people who are actually are knowledgeable in those areas. So, you know, my list, i think it started out, i immediately said, i know nothing about music. I don’t understand financial markets. I’m clueless about chemistry. And, you know, the list just kept growing from there. And i’ve actually been just ing that list. I’ve a file on my desk top, and my goal is to add something new to it every week.
Speaker 3
And if i stay clear about what i don’t know, then i hope i’m in a stay no more, humble more curious mind said, that’s great.
Speaker 2
When i was reading think again, it was occurring to me, you know, that you tell such great stories, including like story of the blackberry company and, and, you know, mike’s inability To rethink the way perhaps he could have and what might have been.The Power of Magic Key takeaways: • Magic is powerful. • It can be aweinspiring. • It can make people think about the world in a different way.
Speaker 2
Ind any way, i think the thing about magic, as much as some might see it as the geekiest, sort of, you know, silliest thing, to me, it incredibly powerful. We had a magician in our office, and this as like two years ago, and he was in my office, just the two of us, and he did a few tricks. And he did one that literally made me, as a 50 year old man, think to myself, in my head, he might be magical, like cause i know how magic tricks are done. I know how a lot. I know a bunch of gimmicks. I know a bunch of tricks. He did something wiwas like, i wonder if he maybe magical. Does he? And my whole point is the fact that someone who’s half century old can still have a moment of thinking there might be powers beyond that, which i know is so profound. And the the wow and the gasping and the amazement that any audience has, big or small as it’s there’s something about the the sense of possibility, that the world is more than it seems, And that we want to see things that we can’t imagine and that we don’t expect. And so i feel like that is a natural aspect to telling a story. And i just think that whether it’s writing a a book or making a show or a movie, um, it’s all a bit of a magic trick.
