As a 12 year-old who had never ventured onto something more exhilarating than bumper cars (I was even afraid of the Ferris wheel), you may ask how, back in 1977, I ever came to be on the Zipper ride that had set up in the mall parking lot in Fredericton. It’s a question I still ask myself, although I think my older bother’s influence had something to do with it. We lost everything we had won at the sleazy midway that day, as well as all the money in our pockets. I also lost all interest in ever again getting on any “two-axes of motion” rides.

Over the years and as my kids have grown, I’ve managed to make it onto Ferris wheels, the Tilt-A-Whirl, and even some motorized swan-boats. As an engineer, I could analyze any ride and figure out how it would break and the consequences of the failure. Yup – I was a wimp when it came to rides. Funny thing is, I’ve downhill-skied some treacherous places and used to drive a dirt-bike like a maniac. So maybe the fear was more of the pot-smoking thugs that bolt the rides together with duct tape and bubblegum.

This summer while on vacation, we took the kids to Wonderland (Canada’s largest amusement park). As I analyzed rides the first day, I saw a couple of them that I could see myself riding, including a couple of roller coasters. The coasters were ones that went up and down but there was no spinning or crazy loops. Some were old wooden coasters that were limited in capability, one had these train-like cars suspended from above that felt quite safe. In all, I made it on to 4 roller coasters that day, each one more adventurous than the last!

We returned the next morning. My wife and son had plans to ride “Behemoth“, the highest roller coaster in the park at 230 ft. It reaches speeds up to 127 km/hr in 3.9 seconds, hurtling down a 75 degree cliff at the start. It pulls 4.5 Gs. My daughter and I were the only two sane ones not going on this ride. We did a couple of the other rides and another roller coaster that had heartline rolls (yeah..those are not for me). During this time my wife was taunting my daughter, ultimately making a bet with her that she would eat a Big Mac (wife being a holistic nutritionist, it’s like a vegan agreeing to eat a bacon explosion) if smart-like-dad-daughter would ride Behemoth with them. She wasn’t even trying to convince me, knowing that my logical mind would calculate the risk of dying and conclude that dying was not worth any bet she would make.

And then, out of nowhere, I just said to my daughter “I’ll go if you go”. What? Who said that? What was I thinking? This thing is freaking 230 ft tall. The seats look like those old plastic chairs from the high school cafeteria. And wait a minute – THERE ARE NO FREAKING SIDES ON THE CARS! Oh yeah, and no seat belts, shoulder harnesses – just this little post with a cushioned mushroom top to hold the wanna-be-astronauts in their seats!

The 30 minute wait to get on this thing was giving me too much time to think about it. I watched the people getting off – most seemed to be having fun, but a few didn’t look too happy. No…a better description was that they had seen the devil, and he wasn’t nice! That was going to be me. Why did I agree to this?

My final calculation was this: This thing runs all the time. It hasn’t had an accident yet (so…is it due for one?). What’s the chance that the cars fly off the rails while I am on it? What’s the real chance of me dying while riding this thing?

I concluded, like most things in life, the fear in my head was way worse than reality. I got on. The terror of the 230 ft climb was only numbed by the realization that the other side of the hill was going to be much worse. And then, we were flying – I mean… I don’t recall touching the seat for the rest of the ride.

But I had a blast! And I will go again.

Now where’s that next fear I need to tackle?

Summary:

The concept of the opposable mind is simple – the ability to hold two opposing thoughts in your mind at the same time. When faced with choosing option A or option B,  you come up with option C, which is a better solution (and not a compromise of A or B).  Implementing this is much more difficult than the concept sounds, and it would appear that there are not a lot of business leaders practicing it. It leads to a concept that Roger calls “Integrative Thinking” which is really holding a lot of complex details in the brain at the same time, rather than dumbing it down to the simplest component (a la factory setting). He holds that the greatest thinkers of our time have this integrative thinking capability, and thus have opposable minds.The observation is based on 50 interviews he did with top business leaders where he was trying to figure out the skill that they all had in common.

And just like opposable thumbs set us apart from most of the animal kingdom, he argues that the opposable mind sets those people apart from the rest of business thinkers. The book is peppered with great examples from real life situations that provide supportive examples for the theories presented. One of the early examples he gives in the book is where a mutual fund is facing ruin and everyone expects that the fund manager should just sell everything and close the fund. The fund manager sells some of the fund but buys a significant investment in other areas that actually recover the fund and have it go on to become a success.

Key points and quotes:

- Pareto 80/20 rule: “We settle for 80% to avoid being overwhelmed by complexity and losing the ability to function at all”
- “Simplification impairs every step of the integrative thinking process…” and “Simplification, 80/20 style, leads to more business as usual. Truly creative resolutions spring from complexity.”
- He argues that business could take a coherent, holistic approach to “crafting” their products or services but they don’t because of the factory setting” of the contemporary business organization which is based on simplification and specialization.  The example he gives is where IDEO is hired to change the interior of some AmTrak cars but that was only 1/10 of what needed to be changed – passengers hated the entire AmTrak experience, not just the car interiors.
- Roger takes us through the 3 main things that make up the integrative thinker’s personal knowledge system (and are under your control): Stance, Tools, and Experience

- When someone sets off in a given direction, that direction is likely to be re-inforced and amplified (not diminished or altered) because of simplification familiarity. This can result in good spirals or bad spirals. He gives the example of inner city youths that get involved in gangs (bad spirals) and those that break out of them (good spirals).

Integrative Thinkers have a very different stance than others:

1st: Believe that whatever models exist today do not represent reality (they are merely someone else’s simplification, and is only a model of reality). He uses the great example of the Hispanic locksmith and the Persian shopkeeper in the movie “Crash”.
2nd: They believe conflicting models, styles, approaches are to be leveraged, not feared (they are the richest source of insight into the problem)
3rd: Believe models exist that have not yet been seen. Fallibilism – they believe that the best current model will be eclipsed in due time. We all have models we hold to be true on the basis of no or little testing, and we defend those models.
4th: Not only do they believe that a better model exists, but they have the capability to bring that new model from hypothetical to reality. Many non-integrative thinkers will look for data that supports their own models…and argues that we need to have an opportunistic, model-seeking approach if we are to be successful as integrative thinkers.
5th: They are comfortable wading into complexity to bring about a new model (defying the lizard brain). He argues Thinking -> Actions -> Outcomes, and that reflecting on actions is tough, but reflecting on the thinking that led to the action is even tougher.
6th: They give themselves time to create a better model (not looking for a quick fix)

Three tools that can be used to help build this skill:

Generative Reasoning – a form of reasoning that inquires as to what might be rather than what is

Causal Modeling – He lists three types. Material Causation – if you do X, Y will happen: Telelogical Causation – why do we want Y to happen in the first place: System Dynamics – holistic thought involving multiple feedback loops

Assertive Inquiry – not challenge, but explicitly seeking to explore the underpinnings of your own model and that of another person – using inquiries such as “Could you clarify?” and “How did you come to understand that”.

Whether a business owner, consultant, or employee, there’s lots of food for thought in this book. Chew slowly. (I’m still digesting!)

(Ed Note: This is as much for my own r

Many people are fed up with big business (the “factories”) and are deciding to take their purchasing/eating/dealings to smaller local businesses. There is friction in moving away from large businesses to the small local business that we need to understand and deal with in advance, lest the issues come up later.

1) Convenience: Many times the local business or producer does not have a storefront in your neighbourhood. We may need to travel to get to their place of business or where the service is offered. Chances are they aren’t open 24 hours a day, and likely not even 7 days per week.

2) Selection & Diversity: Many small businesses will specialize in a specific market segment as they are not trying to be all things to all people. As long as we remember that we are not at a supermarket and set our expectations in advance, this is avoidable.

3) Process: “Mom and Pop” shops won’t have a process for many things that big businesses do. Their daughter at the cash might not know how to deal with our traveler’s cheque (check) because she’s never seen one before, and HQ (Mom or Pop) didn’t think to write a process for her. And if we’re trying to do a B2B transaction, and our B is much bigger, trying to force our process on them is going to be painful for them.

4) Price: We should expect that items that don’t come from the large factory are going to cost more. “Artisan”, “hand crafted”, “free-range” are all monikers that should have us realize that our purchases will cost more per item than similar stuff from Costco or Walmart. While it sometimes may seem “expensive”, looking at it in the bigger picture (health + environment + economy) can illuminate that the price is fair.

We’re dealing with these people because we’re looking for something else, something that doesn’t come from the factory. Minimizing this friction is quite simple – we need to educate ourselves about the new way of dealing with small and expect some inconvenience in doing so. In essence, we need more understanding and tolerance within ourselves. Kind of like how we deal with small children and small animals. Which makes it even more worthwhile…

I was introduced to the concept of “scanners” recently through triiibes. Barbara Sher is the lifestyle coach, speaker,and author who coined the phrase. “Scanners” are people with a wide variety of interests…who find it hard to specialize. Here’s a good description from getmotivation.com :

Intense curiosity about numerous unrelated subjects is one of the most basic characteristics of a Scanner. Scanners are endlessly inquisitive. In fact, Scanners often describe themselves as being hopelessly interested in everything (although, as you’ll find out, this isn’t so). A Scanner doesn’t want to specialize in any of the things she loves, because that means giving up all the rest. Some even think that being an expert would be limiting and boring.

It might be why I find so many things interesting. I’m always afraid that I might be missing out on something else to do. I know when discussing specializing and focusing, I always tend to think that the person who does so misses out on a whole lot of other life events.

Apparently there is a fair bit of detail and strategies for scanners in her book “I Could Do Anything If I Only Knew What It Was”. Sounds like one I need to read next as I’d like to figure out how it plays against being in the flow state (Can scanners still reach flow?)…

Who Moved My Cheese?

All good stuff, and the book is a great read. William Bridges has some god stuff on change management as well (“Transitions”).And of course there is the whole “Shift Happens” video series if you don’t think things are going to continue changing.

But this wasn’t really the intent of my post. It’s more about whether you (yes you) need change in your life as part of your own personal development.

Usually I find there are telltale signs that I need a change. I don’t always recognize them right away, and they kind of build a little bit at a time. Here’s my list of things I have noticed when it is time for change for me:

1. I complain about certain monotonous tasks that didn’t used to bother me as much, but they now bore me to death.
2. I don’t look forward to work. And I count the days until the weekend.
3. Focus is lacking. I mean, I already have the attention span of a chicken, but it actually gets worse. (Is that a fire truck?)
4. I procrastinate on things that I find boring (see 1)
5. I am grumpier than usual. I tend to be cheery and upbeat but when others start noticing I am not generally like that, it is a sign.
6. An overwhelming sense of dreams unfulfilled, and that there is a yearning that is not being met. When I am happy and stimulated, I don’t have these thoughts.
7. Actively looking for something to fill that yearning, but not sure what it is.
8. I become somewhat envious (in a quiet, Canadian kind of way) of those that are “doing their own art”.

How do you spot that you need a change?

On top of that, I really like the product he mentioned because of what it does for the people of Africa. Reminded me of this dripit article I wrote some time back:

http://www.dripit.org/the-bittersweet-taste-of-chocolate/

Sir Ken Robinson’s TED video (and his book ‘The Element‘)  really connected with me viscerally. It makes me want to raise my arms in the air and shout “Hell, yes!”. I think it is because I have been lamenting the educational system since university and have felt there has to be a better way.

Does it do the same for you?

Po Bronson wrote this book back in 2003. It was the year I left Nortel and was trying to figure out what I wanted to do next. The teasers on the flaps said this book would help, so I rushed out and bought it. The writing was good, and when the writing is good and the subject is of interest, I can devour a book. Devour, I did. But I got to the end, and I was left with a feeling that it hadn’t provided the insight I was looking for. Sure there were great insights, successes and failures. But there wasn’t the direction I was looking for.

Because there is no map.

One of the memorable moments for me is the line “There is no map”. We’re all searching for direction, but no one is going to paint a map for you. You have to find it yourself. This blog is my journal of finding “it” myself.

Because there is no map.