These two phrases have become my pedagogical mottos. Learn how to learn. Think about your thinking. If we value a liberal arts education (I do), and believe that the nature of work will be forever changing (I do), then the smartest thing we can do:
1. Learn how to learn
- Determine how you learn best. Reading, listening, talking. Solo, or in teams? What’s efficient for you?
- Acknowledge that all learning doesn’t require the same rigor. Are you learning something for tomorrow only (then forget it) or something to last for your life? Pareto principle, right?
- Be able to quickly assess the boundaries of information given (what’s going on), architect a framework for understanding (how can I put this in buckets), make it relevant to my life (so what?), keep editing (shed what’s not useful, to make room for better stuff)
- Build on your experience. Recognize patterns, “Oh, it’s one of those.”
- Know what good looks like. As a manager, you are often not doing the work, but instead need to know how to best frame the problem, break up the work, and guide others. You must be able to QA.
- Nurture your network of smart, generous people who can help you “hack” the problem with <3 phone calls.
- Visualize what your know, don’t know. Can you put it on 1 PowerPoint executive summary for your boss?
- Develop your ability to ask relevant questions.
2. Think about thinking
We all have thoughts, but the first thing in your head is not the most cogent, useful, or even thoughtful. Just because you thought it, does not make it good. Ideas (and thoughts) are generally pretty cheap. Some of the key questions you might ask yourself, to hone your thinking:
- What’s the context (industry, history, cultural)?
- What’s my point of view? Can I articulate it clearly?
- What’s the evidence that supports my view?
- What’s the contrary perspective? What would it take for me to change my mind?
- What assumptions, risks, constraints apply?
- What is the time frame of this solution? Does the short-term look different from the long-term?
- What are the other potential outcomes?
If the problem is complex, and your answer is simple – either you are a genius, or a simpleton. Simplicity is incredibly difficult, and yet, what is most needed. As a client of mine used to quote:
I would not give a fig for the simplicity this side of complexity, but I would give my life for the simplicity on the other side of complexity. – Sir Oliver Wendell Holmes
Recently, a friend of mine spoke to my students (hat tip DB) and said that he keeps a very diverse group of friends. People with strong opinions, who are able & willing to challenge his thinking. I find that both encouraging and cool. It’s so easy and lazy to self-select news that validates our own opinions. Our biases become calcified and dogmatic. In essence, we become stubborn, non-thinkers. Time to take my own advice: think about thinking.
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