Two weeks ago I read an article about the higher education system in the US. I was surprised to learn that the US has something like 35 of the world's top 50 Universities and 8 of the top 10. It's been that way for quite a while. "Wow, that's impressive" thought I. The article went on to highlight that in the 50's the US auto makers were the world's best. They stayed that way for quite a while. In both cases these US-based enterprises enjoyed what was termed "entrenched success" in their industries/markets. Things were going along swimmingly well, day after day, quarter over quarter, year after year. "If it ain't broke, don't change it", I mused. Entrenched success is a dangerous thing. It breeds complacency and blindness to the reality that things are changing all around, all the time. The US automakers came to realize that when Toyota took the market over. The US Higher Education system could be heading for the same demise if we don't change with the times.
Last week I attended a course on strategic leadership. The instructor shared the "ladder of inference". Where we naturally use our belief systems and past experiences to hone our ability to look at the right data to come to the right conclusions to take the right actions, right? Wrong! The inherent problem is the reflex loop, which causes us to filter down to only those data points upon which we've come to rely. This results in our being blind to the myriad of other data points that could be relevant and shed some breakthrough insight. Wow! The very experience base that has contributed to success can cause us to become blind to change.
Change is constant. That includes the need to change our personal definition of what breeds success. We need to be aware of the impacts of the reflex loop and force ourselves to take off the filter when dipping into the data pool. Ask other's for input, promote constructive debate, challenge the definition of success, then draw conclusions and take action. We'll produce better results in our roles as family members, work colleagues or members in our communities.
