Mind vs. Mind: Is Thinking Differently Fit or Misfit?
The problem is never how to get new, innovative thoughts into your mind, but how to get old ones out. -Dee Hock
People are different, not because we look differently, but more crucially, we think differently. The variety of thought makes the world diversified, innovative and sophisticated. The complementary thoughts can overcome the common challenges facing in humankind, but misunderstanding with each other cause the chaos and even disaster. The brain is only an organic computer that creates an energy or operating system called the mind. The mind creates programs called our thoughts. We can change our thoughts just as we can change applications on a computer. Still, what’s the best way to get old thoughts at industrial age (such as silo, stereotypical, command-control, bias, extreme thinking, etc), and equip the brain with the new types of thinking (such as holism, balance, creativity, growth, paradox, systems thinking, etc.)
To know the power, you have to know your thoughts. Once you know them, then you know if they are useful or harmful. If something is harmful, why would you hold it, you will let it go and embrace only that which adds value and make you feel good. Our minds are conditioned based on our own belief systems and past happenings. We get innumerable thoughts every moment, they pass unconsciously. We act based on these unconscious thoughts. Choosing thoughts consciously would be arduous. It would be difficult to be conscious all the time to keep choosing thoughts, because it’s the very thoughts decide who you are, the quality of your thinking decides your professionalism and leadership influence.
A wise mind has something to do with sound judgement: The truth is that each of us is a 'complex blend of contrasts - positive and negative,' with imperfect judgement. We all want to believe that our judgement is perfect, yet none of us can claim to be a perfect character. If we are not perfect people, recruiters and candidates alike, the chance of bias doubles with each encounter. More people in assessing each others, the risk increases exponentially. With all these imperfection, it is true that we must use our judgement in everything we do - including the selection of a candidate, making better decisions, discovering the alternative solutions to problems., etc. Some say, the meditative mind is "unconsciously" conscious. It is a re-programmed mind. You start choosing positive thoughts by default, to know the power of your thoughts, you must be able to balance between positive and negative.
Digital fit is less about thinking alike, more about thinking differently: Fit in an organizational context simply means 'like us' or 'different from us.' And, it can be good or bad. The key lies in integrating both the good and the bad. You need to think about fit differently than you do now. For example, put emphasis on organizational cultural fit. That is a concern because the tendency is to hire people who are like minded and with similar backgrounds. It's a good question about whose fit - you need to discuss the types of talent needed to stretch your thinking and who have diverse backgrounds in multiple dimensions - cognitive difference, character, education, life experience, work experience, interests, etc. In this way, you get new perspective from outside your own disciplines, as if you let the ‘out of box’ thought coming in to your thinking box. It's about creating a diverse gene pool, if you will, so you avoid organizational incest. If you think of culture as an expression of values in practice (which is incomplete, but at least measurable), you can have alignment of values, but diverse perspectives. One's values emerge from personal and national culture, so people may express their values differently and have a different understanding of what's important. This is particularly important when working globally.Although there's a tendency to want like minded colleagues, which is more comfortable, organizations need diversity of character, thought, personality, talent, and experience to be innovative. You need to cultivate a willingness to learn to be comfortable with and value difference and hire people who seems “misfit”, but fit differently.
It is hard to say we can make ‘apple to apple’ comparison of mind vs. mind. But the point is that we could alway intend to approach the problems at mindset level, mind assessment goes beyond the conventional IQ testing, but about evaluating multidimensional intelligence and cross-disciplinary transcendence. It is the mind keeps us grow and mature! “Whenever we proceed from the known into the unknown we may hope to understand, but we may have to learn at the same time a new meaning of the word 'understanding.” ― Werner Heisenberg
Follow us at: @Pearl_Zhu
People are different, not because we look differently, but more crucially, we think differently. The variety of thought makes the world diversified, innovative and sophisticated. The complementary thoughts can overcome the common challenges facing in humankind, but misunderstanding with each other cause the chaos and even disaster. The brain is only an organic computer that creates an energy or operating system called the mind. The mind creates programs called our thoughts. We can change our thoughts just as we can change applications on a computer. Still, what’s the best way to get old thoughts at industrial age (such as silo, stereotypical, command-control, bias, extreme thinking, etc), and equip the brain with the new types of thinking (such as holism, balance, creativity, growth, paradox, systems thinking, etc.) To know the power, you have to know your thoughts. Once you know them, then you know if they are useful or harmful. If something is harmful, why would you hold it, you will let it go and embrace only that which adds value and make you feel good. Our minds are conditioned based on our own belief systems and past happenings. We get innumerable thoughts every moment, they pass unconsciously. We act based on these unconscious thoughts. Choosing thoughts consciously would be arduous. It would be difficult to be conscious all the time to keep choosing thoughts, because it’s the very thoughts decide who you are, the quality of your thinking decides your professionalism and leadership influence.
A wise mind has something to do with sound judgement: The truth is that each of us is a 'complex blend of contrasts - positive and negative,' with imperfect judgement. We all want to believe that our judgement is perfect, yet none of us can claim to be a perfect character. If we are not perfect people, recruiters and candidates alike, the chance of bias doubles with each encounter. More people in assessing each others, the risk increases exponentially. With all these imperfection, it is true that we must use our judgement in everything we do - including the selection of a candidate, making better decisions, discovering the alternative solutions to problems., etc. Some say, the meditative mind is "unconsciously" conscious. It is a re-programmed mind. You start choosing positive thoughts by default, to know the power of your thoughts, you must be able to balance between positive and negative.
Digital fit is less about thinking alike, more about thinking differently: Fit in an organizational context simply means 'like us' or 'different from us.' And, it can be good or bad. The key lies in integrating both the good and the bad. You need to think about fit differently than you do now. For example, put emphasis on organizational cultural fit. That is a concern because the tendency is to hire people who are like minded and with similar backgrounds. It's a good question about whose fit - you need to discuss the types of talent needed to stretch your thinking and who have diverse backgrounds in multiple dimensions - cognitive difference, character, education, life experience, work experience, interests, etc. In this way, you get new perspective from outside your own disciplines, as if you let the ‘out of box’ thought coming in to your thinking box. It's about creating a diverse gene pool, if you will, so you avoid organizational incest. If you think of culture as an expression of values in practice (which is incomplete, but at least measurable), you can have alignment of values, but diverse perspectives. One's values emerge from personal and national culture, so people may express their values differently and have a different understanding of what's important. This is particularly important when working globally.Although there's a tendency to want like minded colleagues, which is more comfortable, organizations need diversity of character, thought, personality, talent, and experience to be innovative. You need to cultivate a willingness to learn to be comfortable with and value difference and hire people who seems “misfit”, but fit differently.
It is hard to say we can make ‘apple to apple’ comparison of mind vs. mind. But the point is that we could alway intend to approach the problems at mindset level, mind assessment goes beyond the conventional IQ testing, but about evaluating multidimensional intelligence and cross-disciplinary transcendence. It is the mind keeps us grow and mature! “Whenever we proceed from the known into the unknown we may hope to understand, but we may have to learn at the same time a new meaning of the word 'understanding.” ― Werner Heisenberg
Follow us at: @Pearl_Zhu
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