I just watched a TED conference during which kathryn schulz talks on being wrong and links it to our compulsive urge to understand what is going to happen in a world where failure is terrifying.....It illustrates one of the questions I keep asking myself...why is it we keep making the same mistakes? Here is the trick...geniuses got it right when everybody thought they would get it wrong. Think of Hayek Senior, going to a meeting during which he demonstrated to Swiss bankers that a profit could be made by manufacturing watches in Switzerland. And apparently got a very cold reaction along the lines of " if your eally believe it can be done, why dont you do it yourself...?". I remember him saying 20 years later that it taught him never to ask anything, let alone money, to a banker....
So where can you draw the line between being stubborn to the point of failure and being the only one knowing you are right ? I really liked the 3 assumptions stages described by Kathryn Sculz in her TED talk...if they disagree, assume they must be ignorants. Try to explain again until thay change their mind. But if they still do not agree, then assume they are idiots. that is, until you realise they are not. At which point, if they still disagree when they have been provided with the same facts and exposed to your brilliant reasoning and the same brain power to process it, assume they are evils. And probably try to get rid of them or ignore them.....
For those who do not wnat to fall ion the EVIL trap, I would recommend the reign of the fools; In every royal court, a wise king would always walk with a fool ( le fou du roi in French ) to let them know when they were going off board. Some fools lost their life doing so but some kings gained empires. We shall never know the ratio....however, when you go up the executive ladders, fools become a scarcity because it is hard to pay people to disagree with the boss. And especially if you want to make sure they do not want to replace the boss. Which is tricky...as we are all todl from oru firtst days making coffee for the big guys to treat the job as if it were for your won company......So today, here is my pledge to create the function of official fool in all companies..and see where it takes us.
Good night and good luck. Here is to the corproate fools.
So where can you draw the line between being stubborn to the point of failure and being the only one knowing you are right ? I really liked the 3 assumptions stages described by Kathryn Sculz in her TED talk...if they disagree, assume they must be ignorants. Try to explain again until thay change their mind. But if they still do not agree, then assume they are idiots. that is, until you realise they are not. At which point, if they still disagree when they have been provided with the same facts and exposed to your brilliant reasoning and the same brain power to process it, assume they are evils. And probably try to get rid of them or ignore them.....
For those who do not wnat to fall ion the EVIL trap, I would recommend the reign of the fools; In every royal court, a wise king would always walk with a fool ( le fou du roi in French ) to let them know when they were going off board. Some fools lost their life doing so but some kings gained empires. We shall never know the ratio....however, when you go up the executive ladders, fools become a scarcity because it is hard to pay people to disagree with the boss. And especially if you want to make sure they do not want to replace the boss. Which is tricky...as we are all todl from oru firtst days making coffee for the big guys to treat the job as if it were for your won company......So today, here is my pledge to create the function of official fool in all companies..and see where it takes us.
Good night and good luck. Here is to the corproate fools.
Joker!
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