IdeaTree

I’ve been writing about the research behind group brainstorming and more importantly, decision making. I’d like to take some time out to insert some additional observations. These are my own empirically-based heuristics, not conclusions from scientific literature. There may be correlations to the research, but let’s talk about experience for a moment. What follows may seem vague, overly subtle, or touchy-feely to some, but actually these are the essential things that make up life. Ok, let’s get started. Perhaps you’ve noticed that:

When making important decisions, whether for your organization or yourself, it turns out that the subjective sense, also known as how you feel about it, can be a potent indicator of when you’re on the right track. Here are some guidelines:

The best decision is an ‘Ah’.
Next best is ‘Aha’.
Next best is ‘that sounds good’.
Next best is ‘climb every mountain’.

Ah
The best path, the real change you’ve been looking for, is marked by the subjective feeling of ‘Ah’, as in ‘ah, I see’. There is little or no emotion, either positive or negative. It’s more of a recognition of what now seems obvious, though if we think carefully we’ll realize that previously it wasn’t obvious at all. It’s as if the choice has already been made, though we don’t remember making it. That the action just happens as we watch ourselves making it. This is the holy grail. Truly valuable. Very mysterious. And very, very likely to be overlooked.

Aha
The next best is an ‘Aha’. It’s just so. You know, and you don’t know how you know. It’s the famous ‘gut feel’ that entrepreneurs know well. Sometimes you know what you don’t want to know, and you don’t know how you know it. The fail-safe marker: nothing you say to yourself can change what you know, even when you want to, yet when you ask yourself why such a thought should be true, nothing whatsoever comes to mind. You can give no reasons for what you “just know”. There’s an inverse relationship here when you’re trying to talk yourself out of what your gut is telling you: the more reasons you can give to justify an alternative, the less true it is. The truth “feels” absolutely no need to justify itself. Once you notice the power of this sense you will very naturally try to use it to your benefit, at which point things may become very challenging and confusing, potentially for a very long time. But if this sense becomes available to you take it and abandon everything that follows. If you dare. This is true courage, though it never beats its chest.

That Sounds Good to Me
Next best is ‘that sounds good’. A positive feeling. Usually marks a step forward toward our goal. Though not the final answer the giddiness of it can make us think we’ve arrived. Take it seriously but keep your head. Think of those in the public sphere, subject to large ups and downs, who nevertheless keep an even keel. Actor Tom Hanks says he tries never to get too high when he’s honored or too low when difficulties come up. And then there are the well-known anecdotes about “no drama Obama”. I once read a psychiatrist who said that a lot of tears in therapy aren’t the signal that a profound change has occurred, only that it’s being approached.

Climb Every Mountain
Next best is ‘with work and dedication we can see the change we desire.’ The good ol’ American try. One for the Gipper. Write down your goals, be persistent, never give up, step up to the plate, put your game face on, etc. It’s rags too riches, the underdog who makes it despite all odds. It’s the the national mythology, the story of most every Hollywood film, and Horatio Algier. It’s a lot of work. But it is effective if you don’t mind inefficiency and unintended consequences. By inefficiency I mean that what happens will line up with what you wanted to happen only once in a great while. But you’ll remember that one time and thereafter be driven at great cost to try to get it to happen again, not noticing all the times that the story doesn’t work out like you had hoped it would.

In this progression from subtlety to the generally apparent some of you may notice a resemblance to Lao Tzu, and you’d be right.

When the Master governs, the people
are hardly aware that he exists.
Next best is a leader who is loved.
Next, one who is feared.
The worst is one who is despised.

The Master doesn’t talk, he acts.
When his work is done,
the people say, “Amazing:
we did it, all by ourselves!”
– Lao Tzu, The Tao Te Ching, Stephen Mitchell translation, 1988, ISBN 0-06-016001-2

© 2009 by Ron Newman, All Rights Reserved