Get Rescued Off of Mt. Stupid

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What It’s About: Continuous learning involves humbly recognizing how much we might not know, and what may be missing in our thinking. Yes, it’s great and even important to have supporters. However, if we don’t have people who care enough to push against our views, we could get intellectually lost, and end up stuck on Mt. Stupid.

Please note the excerpt from Think Again author, Adam Grant, (I highly recommend this book):

“It’s helpful to have cheerleaders encouraging you, but you also need critics to challenge you. Who are your most thoughtful critics?”

So What?: The best learners, leaders and organizations embrace intentional and respectful challenge from people around them. This helps people expand perspective AND is one way of avoiding blind overconfidence. We do have to move fast, and with massive agility in this windswept world. However, we often benefit from a slow trigger (because we are intentionally curious and challenging ) and hence, faster bullets.

Now What?:

For individuals and leaders: Per Grant, and his suggestion regarding a challenge network: “Invite them to question your thinking. To make sure they know you’re open to dissenting views, tell them why you respect their pushback—and where they usually add the most value.”

For the leadership system and organization: Consider ways of determining how much respectfully challenging others is a company wide value. Expect leaders to proactively/regularly ask for, and intentionally, listen to feedback from followers.

To set an example, expect leaders to invite challenge, and openly discuss how they benefited from changing a closely held view or action.

Learn from companies like Pixar, and consider employing similar challenge practices like the Brain Trust.

Think Big, Start Small, Act Now,

- Lorne

One Millennial View: Anyone with a pulse on pop culture has likely observed the perils of individuals who just have too many “yes” people in their entourage. What they do, say, invest in, work on, release, wear, is sometimes a result of having no one around them to be like “that’s a terrible idea.” While we think yes first, hearing “no” is sometimes just as important.

- Garrett

Edited and published by Garrett Rubis

Get Rescued Off of Mt. Stupid

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