Think. Feel. Act. Is that the sequence of astute business decisions? Is it possible to change the words and pictures in your mind - aiming to generate new perspective?
To make better choices, do we need to think another way - to take the risk of changing what one believes to be true?
We all have tendency to consider that we are right, even when we are wrong.
Operating rule of being human is no one wants to look silly. Price in the marketplace resolves around the customer’s perceived value, not some misplaced notion of ‘actual’ value.
Innovation requires paying a price
As part of a ‘looking good’ vacuous marketing pitch, it is hard to find a firm or non-governmental organisation that does not say they are ‘innovative’.
But to be innovative, a manager has to think different. To risk failure, to risk looking stupid, to take a gamble. “Failure is part payment for success.
Price of success is paid in full in advance,” says the high-performance psychologist, Jamil Qureshi.
Can you put new wine in old wineskins? Can you teach an old dog new tricks? It used to be thought that personality is largely fixed by late adolescence, thanks to early life experiences and genetics.
‘Paul on the Damascus Road’ radical transformations are possible, but not probable.
“It has long been believed that people can’t change their personalities, which are largely stable and inherited.
“But a review of recent research in personality science points to the possibility that personality traits can change through persistent intervention and major life events.
And that personality traits can change, especially if you catch people at the right age and exert sustained effort.
However, these traits also remain relatively stable; thus, while they can change, they are not easy to change,” writes Karen Nikos-Rose of the University of California.
Reframing
Making astute judgements requires reframing how one sees the business problem.
“Reframing is the process of redefining how a person views a problem and, in turn, adjusting the emotional complexity of the problem so that one can identify possible solutions” notes Aaron Beck.
So, how does one reframe?
One way is to pull back, putting some distance between the urgency and seriousness of the issue, and asking some different questions.
Just for a moment, to turn the critical business decision making into a game.
What would we do if the marketing budget was cut to zero? With unlimited funds for marketing how would we act?
If the new product launch is an absolute disaster, what next? If the new regional sales manager does almost magical work, how do we incentive her?
What would we do if we knew we could not fail? How would the big boss act - if they were considered the number 1, most successful CEO in Kenya?
Another way to reframe is to change places.
Thoughts one has in their little workspace cubicle, or expansive corner office are different from the thinking, while walking the dogs in the countryside on a sunny picture-perfect morning.
Just as canines have an acute sense of smell and hearing, what is it one may not be able to sniff out, and listen to? Bright ‘aha’ ideas don’t keep a ‘8 am to 5 pm’ five days a week working schedule.
Real brain power ‘central processing unit’ with the latest ‘Intel processor inside’ is the subconscious, where the conscious mind resembles a screen, or a keyboard.
When you sleep on things overnight, what does your intuition tell you? In contrast, if you believe that their ‘gut feel’ may fall victim to inherent biases and prejudices, what would a simple algorithm be that would help make a decision?
Share, connect, argue more
Ultimate reframing may be reconfiguring the business model around connectivity, tapping into networks of ideas and concepts, throwing old worn out, stifling hierarchies out the door.
Putting the dusty archaeological relics of a slow-moving bureaucracy in the trash can. And devolve to business at the speed of thought.
In his work with the computer giant Hewlett Packard, Qureshi noted that senior management believed: “If HP knew, what HP knew, it would be three times more successful”.
Somehow one has to tap into the ‘wisdom of crowds’ – that knowledge and insights that staff have.
In the game of decision making “You can’t trust the future, to those that champion the past,” observes Qureshi.
