The Brain Sees What It Wants To See
Strategic blindspots seems to be popular topic amongst readers of this blog. (My posting Blindspot Analysis - Uncovering Strategic Bias has featured on the list of five most read postings on this blog for two out of the past three months.) Given that so much of my own practice revolves around strategy, it is also a subject that is keeping me increasingly fascinated, too. Not so much blindspots as 'per se,' as how to identify them and what to do about them during strategic process.
Craig Henry, in his blog Lead and Gold, blogs about a new book on the topic that will certainly be in my next contribution to Amazon.com's profits. The book is called Changing Minds - The art and science of changing our own and other people's minds, by Howard Gardner.
His insights are critical not only for those who have to think themselves about strategy, but also those tasked with driving change.
Craig writes:
"Pro wrestling manager Bobby Heenan once said that there were only two things that scared him about wrestling fans: "they can vote and they can breed." Heenan's quip also fits all the Court TV/Nancy Grace/ Rita Cosby fans out there. But I would add two points:
-There are so many of them
-They can sit on juries"
He continues about the challenges that TV, blogs and chat rooms are having for the American judicial system, where jurors are bombarded by information about the case before they get to court and, unless they are kept cloistered in a subterranean chamber, during the trial as well.
Which leads one to the topics of blind spots.
One of the main points of Gardner's book is that it is difficult for any of us to change our own minds. Rather than accept new facts and revise our theories, we disregard the new information or distort it to fit our theories.
This is by no means a symptom of stupidity. Stupidity, in fact, may be an advantage in this particular area. Intellectuals are "particularly susceptible" to removing cognitive dissonance by "reinterpreting" the facts. Gardner lists three factors that exacerbate this tendency:
-Emotional commitment
-Public commitment (pride makes it hard to climb down when everyone is watching)
-An absolutist personality.
Given that people with absolutist personalities often rise to positions of leaders in professional service firms precisely because they are often absolutist, decisive, goal orientated and driven, this means that such leaders need to be particularly careful in assessing whether their decisions are being driven by the facts of the situation, or their own possibly flawed interpretation of those facts.
Comments, as always, are most welcome and may be posted below.