Lesson 2.3 | Thinking Differently
TRANSCRIPT
Seeing differently is good. Thinking about things differently isn't better? How can you think differently? Well, first of all, you can think more strategically. You can think, for example, when you are thinking strategically, thinking more about systems. How the different parts work, and innovation in different parts of our context work together. It's an ecosystem. It's interconnected, interdependent, versus thinking linear, like an assembly line.
The second thing we can do is look at our mental models or frameworks and the tools that we use. These frame how we think about a situation. It’s important to challenge these - working with only a certain business model or thinking that customers will only buy a particular way. That's our mental model. Maybe, the model we're using is no longer relevant, or there's something new, or using another would help us think about different questions to consider and different solutions to try.
Third, we need to consider mindsets. Do we have a fixed mindset? Are we locked in thinking we cannot learn? That everything is already predestined? And that life is a zero-sum game? There are winners, and there are losers. Or do we have a growth mindset that thrives on learning new possibilities, and growing the pie, so everybody gets a bigger slice, and a longer-term game.
The other way we think differently is using both/and versus either/or thinking. Given the complexity of the challenges we face, most often, there is no singular, right answer. Most challenges are multifaceted.
With binary thinking, either or thinking, each side has a negative, and someone always loses. Think about the phrase “you're either with me or against me.” However, with both/and thinking, your set of possible solutions opens up. So, if you think about the picture here, if we were trying to find new, valuable mineral deposits, we may want someone who is an explorer, and a miner, versus choosing one or the other.
Think about Amazon Prime on the slide of their trucks, it says pick two, fast delivery and low price. They've been able to do both of these. Where in the past, you maybe could get fast delivery, but it wasn't at a low price. So, you'd get a low price, but it wasn't fast delivery. It’s that both/and thinking helps us expand our set of solutions. And with both in thinking, the negatives of either side cancel themselves out.
Here's a more personal example. In the summer, I'd like the air conditioning on full blast. I like to be cool, but my wife is always turning it down because she's cold. Now we're using either/or thinking, one of us is going to lose in being uncomfortable. However, how can I be cool, and she be warm? Well, I bought her a nice sweater to offset the air conditioning. Now we're both happy.
And with both/and thinking, the negatives of either side cancel themselves out.