book.chapter Personal

To rethink effectively, you must first open your mind to other possibilities, which is quite difficult. Three key suggestions are: share personal experiences showing your openness to new opportunities; bring in outside experts, demonstrating you welcome different viewpoints; and question your assumptions through scientific thinking rather than relying solely on intuition or habit. Develop habits Mike lazaridis, the pioneer behind blackberry, led the company to dominate the smartphone market in the late 2000s with its innovative wireless email device. However, blackberry's market share dramatically fell from 20% to less than 1% in a few years, not due to the company's inability to adapt, but rather due to the mindset of its leaders. When the iphone was introduced in 2007, lazaridis underestimated its impact, sticking to his original beliefs instead of reevaluating blackberry's strategy. This resistance to change marked the beginning of the company's decline. Successful leadership requires flexibility and the ability to rethink strategies in the face of new evidence. Lazaridis, who initially thought like a scientist, became more rigid in his thinking as blackberry grew, failing to adapt to the changing landscape where touchscreens and mobile apps became the norm. This fixation on past successes and an unwillingness to embrace new technologies led to blackberry's downfall. The story of blackberry underscores the importance of adaptability and open-mindedness in leadership. In a rapidly changing world, leaders must balance their convictions with the flexibility to change, ensuring they remain relevant by rethinking strategies and embracing innovation. Had lazaridis adopted this approach, blackberry's fate might have been different, highlighting the critical lesson for today's leaders to stay adaptable in the face of change. Calibrate confidence Rethinking our beliefs and opinions is essential, yet it's rare for us to question our own assumptions. We often seek information that confirms our existing beliefs, succumbing to confirmation bias. This leads to a false sense of confidence and complacency, making it difficult to identify our blind spots. To overcome this, we need to develop "confident humility," which combines self-assurance in our abilities with an awareness of our limitations. Cultivating this mindset involves recognizing our cognitive blind spots, actively seeking contrary evidence, welcoming critiques, and reassessing our competence. Avoiding the extremes of overconfidence without expertise and underestimating our abilities despite significant capabilities is crucial. Confident humility involves having faith in our abilities while being aware of our skill gaps, anchoring our identity in our values, and being open to disconfirming evidence. On an organizational level, leaders should model this by openly discussing their knowledge gaps and creating safe spaces for dissent. This approach doesn't weaken confidence but rather motivates us to improve. Embracing our doubts can enhance our learning and skill development. Sara blakely's journey with spanx illustrates confident humility, combining belief in her potential with acknowledgment of her current limitations. Research shows that confident humility is the most effective leadership style for fostering innovation and productivity, applicable across different cultures. By acknowledging and addressing our blind spots, we can surpass our self-imposed limitations, equipping ourselves to recognize our weaknesses and build the confidence to address them. Invite questioning Embracing challenges to our thinking is a powerful method for revising our ideas and assumptions. Inviting critique and accepting when we are proven wrong can significantly enhance our capacity for constructive reevaluation. The wright brothers, wilbur and orville, exemplify this through their development of the first powered airplane. As bicycle mechanics, they often engaged in intense debates, particularly over the design of an efficient propeller system. Despite the frequency and ferocity of their arguments, which once drove their sister katharine to threaten leaving home, they continued to challenge each other's ideas. One night, a particularly explosive argument led to a surprising outcome the next day. They resumed their discussion calmly, reconsidering their previous stances, which led to a major breakthrough. They realized that instead of one propeller, their airplane needed two, spinning in opposite directions to provide the necessary lift for flight. Orville, typically sensitive to criticism, thrived in his partnership with wilbur, who was naturally disagreeable and unfazed by others' opinions. This "challenge network" between them was crucial. Orville's idea of a movable rudder, initially expected to be met with resistance from wilbur, was instead quickly recognized as a vital innovation. Seeking out challenges to our ideas, like the wright brothers, can supercharge our mental agility and ability to update our thinking. By building a "challenge network" of people who rigorously question our ideas, we can foster a mindset that welcomes tough critiques. This approach treats debate as an intellectual tool rather than a personal attack, allowing stronger ideas to emerge. As charles darwin noted, ignorance often breeds confidence, but robust conflict can lead to greater wisdom. Adam grant echoes this sentiment, suggesting that the lack of conflict signifies apathy, not harmony. Mastering the art of welcoming challenges to our reasoning can significantly improve our ability to rethink and refine our ideas.