MODERN THINKING
your life? Relinquish the need to be
right, and instead embrace doubt
and the opportunity to learn.
It’s not always wonderful
It’s uncomfortable, remember? The
thing we need to be careful of, is
when we make conclusions. “I can’t
do this” is an unhelpful conclusion.
“I’m not sure I can do this” is a bit
better. Because there’s only one way
to find out — do it. And then if that
doesn’t work, you could fall back
to the conclusion that you, in fact,
can’t do said thing. Or maybe you
can keep the doubt alive! Maybe it
was an issue with your methodology,
or some other factor. Avoid
conclusions. The best kind of doubt
ends in a question mark. “How can I
do this?” Let’s find out.
There’s a time and a place for doubt
You choose the time, and you choose
the place. What does this look like
at work? It looks like leaders being
comfortable enough to share their
doubts and insecurities with each
other during meetings and retreats,
but to rally with conviction when it
44 ModernBusiness
May 2016
counts. It looks like time scheduled
for deep, slow thinking — time spent
in angst over the relevance of current
business models in a changing
world. It looks like time dedicated
to real strategic development that
searches for the best path (the
hidden, clever path — not just the
quick fix or the convenient default).
And it looks like time spent on the
frontier, playing in the intersection of
trends and researching what may be.
Then, of course, there’s the rest of
our work
The business as usual stuff, where
the thinking needs to be fast.
Where we default to systems and
processes, reducing cognitive burden
and enabling us to get work done.
Good businesses dance between
these two types of thinking. They
carve out time for slow thinking — be
it as part of their ongoing leadership
development, research or learning
(or deliberate work culture rituals) —
they ensure there’s always time for
good thinking and questioning.
And then, when it counts, they
can make decisions with more
confidence, clarity and conviction
— because of the doubt. Such
companies are less likely to be
blindsided by disruption, and are
more equipped to embrace emerging
opportunities and change. So, ask
more questions. Give yourself the
benefit of the doubt.
Dr Jason Fox (drjasonfox.com) is
modern day wizard-rogue, speaker,
advisor, bestselling author of The
Game Changer, and the author of the
newly released book: How to Lead a
Quest – a handbook for pioneering
executives. With deep expertise in
motivation design, Jason’s work unlocks
pioneering leadership amongst high
performing teams. His clients include
the adventurous senior executives of
Fortune 500 and ASX 200 companies.