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April 25, 2020 - February 11, 2021
We often think someone is wrong because they see things from a different perspective than we do. Relativity helps us to understand that there is more than one way to see everything. That doesn’t mean everyone’s perspective is equally valid, only that we might not have the most complete view into a problem or situation.
The less willing you are to accept and acknowledge limitations, the less useful your perspective.
We have all been in situations where we have a totally different perspective on events than the person standing next to us. It’s important to be aware of and compensate for different perspectives if you want to get the most complete picture possible of the situation you are in. What you see is never all there is.
When you see someone doing something that doesn’t make sense to you, ask yourself what the world would have to look like to you for those actions to make sense. While we all see our own version of events, the goal is to enlarge our perspective to be a closer representation of reality by removing some of the factors that cloud our judgment. One of the best ways to do this is by noticing and observing the details of what is going on around you.
It is good to know something of the customs of various peoples, so as to judge our own more soundly and so as not to think that everything that is contrary to our ways is ridiculous and against reason, as those who have seen nothing have a habit of doing. » Descartes7
Perspective often comes from distance or time. If you’re trying to solve a problem and you’re stuck, try shifting your vantage point. Examples of this are moving up and contemplating the bigger picture, moving down and seeing more details, or assuming the perspective of other stakeholders—customers, suppliers, partners, government. Many problems become clearer if you extend the timeline. What does this situation look like in the weeks, months, and years ahead? Assuming different perspectives allows you to gain a more complete understanding of what’s really going on.
Life is an iterative and compounding game. In the words of Peter Kaufman, it pays to “go positive and go first.” Also, remember that people make mistakes. Assuming there is no maliciousness, it pays to forgive.
Loss aversion is one of the principles that govern the value of outcomes. Daniel Kahneman explains it like this: “When directly compared or weighted against each other, losses loom larger than gains.” According to Kahneman, people are willing to risk losing $100 for every $250 of potential gains.1 The loss aversion coefficient is 1:2.5.2 This asymmetry between the power of positive and negative expectations or experiences has an evolutionary history. Organisms that treat threats as more urgent than opportunities have a better chance to survive and reproduce.2 When it comes to reciprocity, we
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Reciprocity based on self-interest is still reciprocity. Engaging in positive behavior to then be a receiver of positive behavior is about the long game.
Reciprocity teaches us to be mindful of how our actions tend to come back on us. It’s important to remember that we are part of the world, and thus our actions do not happen in isolation, but are instead part of an interconnected web of effects.
Thermodynamics refers to a set of laws that provide the ultimate foundation in how the world really works. It helps us understand randomness and disorder in systems and explains the conversion of energy from one form to another, the direction in which heat will flow, and the availability of energy to do work. One of the most useful aspects of thermodynamics is that it applies to all systems everywhere in the known universe, giving it a broad applicability. All work requires energy, and all systems are headed toward equilibrium.
Examples of this are laws, religions, social norms, customs, and the stories that explain and perpetuate them.
The content may vary, but the form of the stories we tell is remarkably predictable.
Fairy tales also set out a common understanding that everyone can buy into, trying to slow down entropy by preemptively fitting the unexplainable into a systematic order.
The patterns in our fairy tales are so inescapable across time and cultures that it seems logical to suggest there must be a reason.
In Into The Woods, John Yorke suggests that the way we tell stories is indicative of our desire to find order in the world. Stories are an attempt to tame the terrifying randomness that surrounds us. As we go through life, we are constantly absorbing chaotic information that we make sense of through narratives. Yorke writes that “every act of perception is an attempt to impose order, to make sense of a chaotic universe. Storytelling, at one level, is a manifestation of this process.”
Child abandonment and neglect, rape and death, fairy tales take away the randomness by putting these acts into a larger, explainable structure and offering insight on how to process them.
We are drawn to stories that make things feel a little less random, just as we are drawn to storytellers who seemingly simplify complexity. We are all aware of disorder and the natural uncertainty that follows it and are attracted to stories that reduce it.
Unable to face meaninglessness, “in order to stay sane we must impose some kind of pattern.”22 This is what narratives achieve, and it’s the same reason we craft them within our own lives. They give us a sense of a coherent identity.
Entropy is a law of thermodynamics, arguably the one we struggle with understanding the most. But our awareness of the higher potential for disorder is evident through our use of fairy tales to create order out of disorder.
For the need to think can never be stilled by allegedly definite insights of “wise men;” it can be satisfied only through thinking, and the thoughts I had yesterday will satisfy this need today only to the extent that I want and am able to think them anew. » Hannah Arendt10
our capacity for belief has been one of our survival mechanisms and that this biological relevance helps explain why beliefs are so resistant to change. Thus, sometimes the inertia of our beliefs hinders us, such as when they make us blind to new opportunities. Or when we dismiss new information or ideas because they don’t fit with what we think we know about the world.
Strong beliefs can stay strong while being flexible. In fact, if we continually refine and develop them based on new information and experiences, they can continue to support us through challenges.
The inertia of belief can make it difficult to cause real change in the world. But that same inertia can help those who are determined to cause change to hold onto their beliefs and push through.
There are two important aspects to using friction and viscosity as a model. First, what is easy in one environment might be harder in another. For instance, what we can accomplish in times of peace is different than what we can accomplish in times of war. Second, we also learn that the main forces relevant to a particular situation depend on the scale you are operating at.
He saw that output could be significantly affected by reducing the friction happening at that level. “If workers failed to anticipate problems before they occurred, and didn’t take the initiative to devise solutions, the work of the whole factory could easily come to a halt.”10 Therefore, getting more effective output from the shop floor worker was not about speeding up performance or setting higher quotas. It was about creating a smoother environment that empowered workers to engage with their work.
If we want people to innovate and take initiative in real time at the ground level, then the organizational culture and structure has to be one where it is supported and safe to do so.
A first step was to change the behavior on the line by including responsibilities like minor repairs and quality checking. Every worker was given the ability to stop the line “if a problem emerged that they couldn’t fix.”
the day was arranged so that time was set aside for workers to share ideas on how to improve processes.
Morale is critical to an environment that fosters innovation. In order to take risks people need to feel supported.
communication and collaboration.
encouraged them to be knowledgeable about the entire process and get curious about finding solutions and efficiencies.
Paying attention to the environment of workers is a way for organizations to metaphorically keep their feet on the ground. By “touching the territory” they can empower the people closest to the problem and reduce the friction in their organization.
While the mass production plant is often filled with mind-numbing stress, as workers struggle to assemble unmanufacturable products and have no way to improve their work environment, lean production offers a creative tension in which workers have many ways to address challenges.”
If you want to change a situation, you have to appreciate the forces that are strongest in that particular environment.
To overcome resistance, we often default to using more force when simply reducing the friction or viscosity will do.
he issued clear and simple instructions. Not only did he come up with brilliant battlefield strategy, but he seemed to instinctively understand that in order for a strategy to work, it must be communicated in a way that could be understood and executed. The more time people spend decoding complex instructions, the slower they will move in the direction you need them to go. And since strategy can often get lost in movement and in the complexity of battle, he knew that clear communication would encourage velocity.
Better go the right direction slowly than the wrong direction with speed.
Gains come from both improving your tactics and being able to adjust to and respond to new information.
People who think that simply working hard is the path to financial wealth are mistaken. You need to leverage your judgment as well. This requires both hard work and opportunity. Once you have judgment, you want to continue to leverage it in order to decrease the amount of effort needed to achieve your goals.
Leverage is not, however, about manipulation. It’s about influence.
Knowing how much pressure to apply in any given situation is critical. Too much pressure breaks the metaphorical lever or takes you out of win-win. No one wants to be forced to do something, and if they are, they won’t think kindly of you which can hurt you in the future. Too little pressure and you might not achieve your objective. Leverage should be applied with conscious thought as to when it’s helping you achieve your aims and when iit’s hurting your ability to do so.
leverage in human interactions is based on perceptions and second that it is a social or relational construct.1 What this means is that for something to be leverage, everyone has to have roughly the same perception of its value, and this is going to be dependent on social context.
No one wants to feel exploited, and those who are never give their loyalty or their best work. Leverage is best paired with reciprocity—building in win-win thinking helps you keep your leverage sustainable and achieve better, longer lasting, outcomes.
Creating lasting change is harder than creating change. Don’t underestimate the activation energy required to not only break apart existing bonds, but to create new, strong ones. Some reactions are not quick, and all take some degree of effort. Trying to accurately estimate the activation energy required means you’re less likely to quit too early. You won’t run out of gas on the way up the hill or stop supporting a team during its transition phase. If you have enough activation energy, reactions will keep going, finishing what was started and forming new bonds that will then take a significant
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The precise origins of the Black Death are unlikely to ever be known, but we do know how it spread. Animals, in particular rats, carried fleas infected with the plague bacteria when they climbed aboard ships sailing around the world. The fleas then jumped onto humans, bit them, and infected them with the Black Death. In the 1340s, the trading routes that were bringing Europe new wealth and opportunities brought it something more sinister. With no knowledge of what was causing this devastating disease, people continued to move and trade, spreading the plague further and further afield. As time
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Part of the change to seeing the home as a private space was a result of larger social changes that were occurring.
And, perhaps most importantly, the Enlightenment was developing, placing emphasis on individual liberty and the sharing of knowledge and ideas.
In short, Louis XV put in place many aspects of the modern home.
The Age of Comfort,
