Tag: Outcomes

The OPOrtunity Cost!

 

Though phonetically the OPO in the above caption does sound like the name of a mobile phone, do take that call at your own risk.

 

It’s easy to get curious about what OPO can be. There are various expansions in slang, business , medicine and everyday life.

 

OPO in business can translate to Optimum Positioning Opportunity, in the sense it becomes almost a competitive advantage.

 

OPO in the world of medicine could be Organ Procurement Organization.

 

OPO could also stand for Open Procurement Order.

 

And in everyday slang, OPO is simply Other People’s Opinions. And do people have them????

 

The above out of the way, let’s get down to what I am driving at.

 

In our case, the pecking order of OPO reads somewhat like this: Optimism to begin with, bring on the pessimism in the middle to moderate and ascertain and go back to optimism late in the piece.

 

Often times we ourselves get in the way of getting something started. That is where optimism comes in, as without that, the journey to something new, something better and the world of multiple possibilities wouldn’t come about. Believing in what you are about to do does not guarantee success, but a lack of belief can surely prevent it.

 

Once we hit the road, open the bag of pessimism, that bag which contains questions. Play devil’s advocate. Dig holes. Use the fine tooth comb. Evaluate. Is it misplaced enthusiasm? Raise the bar. Hold yourself accountable. Let the jury be out(standing)!

 

The above accomplished, call your friend back. Suggest you keep it on speed dial. Optimism. Look at progress not just outcomes. And progress requires the courage to move ahead despite the inevitable obstacles and speed breakers. To quote Ryan Holiday‘s book title ” The Obstacle Is The Way “. Perfection is an illusion. Showing up and shipping out is not. Iterations can happen. Enhancements and making things better will follow.

 

Optimism is a tool that, if used wisely, it brings enthusiasm, inspiration and hope to projects that benefit from them.

 

And pessimism is a tool as well–it can help you with budgeting, scheduling and other projects. If it works for you, that’s great.

 

It’s not that optimism solves all of life’s problems; it is just that it can sometimes make the difference between coping and collapsing. Optimism is a force multiplier.

 

” Pessimists are usually right and optimists are usually wrong but all the great changes have been accomplished by optimists “- Thomas Friedman.

 

ENDS

React or Respond? Thermometer or Thermostat?

 

Thermometer: an instrument for measuring and indicating temperature, typically one consisting of a narrow, hermetically sealed glass tube marked with graduations and having at one end a bulb containing mercury or alcohol which extends along the tube as it expands.

 

Thermostat: a device that automatically regulates temperature, or that activates a device when the temperature reaches a certain point.

 

No, we are not here to debate the functions and benefits of these devices. Rather, we want to look at the inference we can draw from both.

 

A thermometer is limited by the fact that it has only one function- that it reacts to the environment. We have used it many a times when someone in the family is sick and it is the go to device for measuring the temperature. The learning here is that a lot of us are like the thermometer, conditioned and restricted by beliefs, people, situation, leading limited lives in the bargain. Reacting in a constrained way to the environment.

 

On the other hand, let’s look at the thermostat. What it does is it gauges the environment and conditions the environment to react to it. If a thermostat notices that a room is too cold or too hot, it changes the environment to fit the ideal for which it is set. We do encounter internal and external attempts at putting constraints on us, which is when we can respond like the thermostat to reject those limiting beliefs and create an environment that aligns with your most ambitious goals.

 

Our attitude precedes the outcomes we desire. Have a reason before you expect a result.

 

All of us know about the oft used adage ” With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility “. Now turn that on its head and make it ” With Great Responsibility Comes Great Power “.

 

To quote Jim Kwik ” If you fight for your limitations you get to keep them. Drop excuses. You can’t get upset by the results you didn’t get from the work you didn’t do. Accept responsibility for your thoughts & actions.

 

The worst place to be, more terrible than Auschwitz, Nazi Germany’s largest concentration camp and extermination camp, is to be a prisoner in our own mind.

 

ENDS

 

 

Go Luck Yourself!

In short, Luck’s always to blame..

 

It’s good to be cognisant of this saying about luck..

 

” You never know what worse luck your bad luck has saved you from. You know, Hobbes, some days even my lucky rocket ship underpants don’t help. Remember that sometimes not getting what you want is a wonderful stroke of luck “.

 

Nothing is a mistake. There is no win or no fail. Everything is MAKE. Betting on lucky isn’t nearly as productive as simply establishing a platform where you can benefit from the occasional arrival of good fortune.

 

Life is full of luck, like getting dealt a good hand, or simply by being in the right place at the right time. Some people get luck handed to them, a second chance, a save.

Luck might not be a strategy, but setting yourself up to be lucky might be. The luck as tactic can be a workable tool if you are bringing in your deep work, resilience, showing up and shipping out and be on a perennial path of exploration and discovery. If you maintain that consistency, chances are high that you would get lucky more often than not. But that is very different from the default mindset that there is a correlation between past behaviour and lucky outcomes.

 

If you show up with good work and generous action, again and again, sooner or later something that appears to others to be luck will appear. So, go for it!

 

I urge you to read this article on Relentless Optimism in BrandKnew

 

ENDS

 

A question of questions!

“Judge a man by his questions rather than by his answers.”: Voltaire 

Question is defined as a sentence or phrase used to find out information, insight or intelligence.

We may have all experienced this. You are checking out of a hotel room after a few days’ stay. The lady at the checkout counter politely asks you ‘ How was your stay? ‘ And this question seems not to have changed over the years across time zones and continents. And in most cases, a polite yet non committal answer evolves  ‘ It was good ‘ (even though the stay may not have been).
 
What if (question?) we are asked ‘ What could we have done to improve your stay with us ? ‘ . The energy and the dynamic changes completely. Rather than go on auto pilot mode and offer the default response, you are buoyed by the keenness of the hotel staff to improve the guest experience and you end up offering honest feedback. The answer may not give them exactly what they want to hear. But it will give what’s valuable for them to learn.
As the old proverb goes ‘ Better to ask a question than to remain ignorant ‘.
What if Obvious Questions collide with Contrarian Answers? It’s a discussion worth having. When smart, committed people disagree about the answer to a question, it’s a question worth pursuing.
Progress or outcomes? There is no toss up- its got to be progress. Ditto with questions.
HR reviews could have better progress and responses if employees are asked ‘ What challenges are you facing now ? ‘, as that question presumes that challenges are the norm, not the exception. Rather than ask ‘ Are you facing any challenges?’ , when most will say no. They might fear that their admission will be seen as a weakness.
Good insights, contrary to popular wisdom, don’t come from a smart answer. They come from a smart question.
” We awaken by asking the right questions. We awaken when we see knowledge being spread that goes against our own personal experiences. We awaken by seeking answers in corners that are not popular. We awaken when we see popular opinion being wrong but accepted as being right, and what is right being pushed as wrong “- Suzy Kassem
ENDS

Choice Architecture, Decision Making & the Miracle on the Hudson!

Where were you on January 15, 2009? 

Let’s journey back in time. The world was in economic turmoil. The financial crisis was raging. Just a few months earlier, Lehman Brothers, one of the largest investment banks, spectacularly collapsed. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the symbols of the homeownership “American Dream,” became insolvent. Tens of millions of homeowners were delinquent on their mortgages and faced potential foreclosure.

The world was at a low point not seen since the Great Depression.

Then IT happened. An event reminding people that real miracles DO happen. It was an event bringing hope to so many. The timing could not have been better. On January 15, 2009, Captain Chelsea “Sully” Sullenberger and his crew landed the disabled plane( bird hits on take off from LaGuardia airport had decapitated both engines), U.S. Airways Flight 1549, on the Hudson River. All passengers and crew were safe. Sully made the seemingly audacious decision to land a hobbled commercial airliner on a river. How could that ever make sense? Why did the plane not cartwheel? How did the passengers get rescued before the plane sank in the hypothermic water? While there were certainly miraculous elements to the Sully story, much of the flight forensics since this time has revealed the hero of the story: Excellent Decision-making.

 

A great decision starts with effective data curation. That is, the ability to quickly ingest and process information. We call it curation because the decision-maker must decide from an overwhelming amount of information, what information is most important, and weigh that information. In the decision sciences world, this is known as weighing criteria. In an organizational setting, groups of stakeholders must come together to provide criteria input from multiple perspectives. This often adds complexity to the decision.

 

One of the most famous examples of successful data curation is when Capt Sully landed the commercial airliner on the Hudson river. How much time did he have to decide? Less than 3 minutes. Yes. A decision that would impact hundreds of lives. In this absolutely awe inspiring story is an unsung hero– the Airbus A320’s cockpit display. A display that allows pilots to quickly understand a small number of critical airplane measures, like airspeed and flight angle. This enables the pilot to make quick and effective decisions. The cockpit display had been designed based on thousands of hours of measure and criteria testing. The Airbus designers created a display that intuitively delivers the most important information to the pilot decision-maker.

 

In the decision sciences world, the cockpit display design is known as “choice architecture.”

 

” Choice architecture refers to a scenario in which the environment in which someone must make a decision has been carefully designed to try and influence that decision “.

” Choice architecture describes the way in which decision making is influenced by how the choices are presented (in order to influence the outcome), and is a term used by Cass Sunstein and economist Richard Thaler in the 2008 book Nudge: Improving Decisions about Health, Wealth, and Happiness “. 
Getting the choice architecture right is a critical enabler of the best outcomes. In the case of this flight, it enabled Sully to quickly “load shed.” This is a pilot’s focusing action when only the most vital information is needed. Sully was able to quickly load shed unimportant details and focus upon the highest weighted information to choose the best alternative and to make the best decision. The cockpit display delivered to Sully exactly what he needed to know and when he needed to know it.
The outcome was “The Miracle on the Hudson.” A perfect landing on the unusually calm Hudson River that day.
Every time we make a choice, our minds go through an elaborate process most of us never even notice. We’re influenced by subtle aspects of the way the choice is presented that often make the difference between a good decision and a bad one. How do we overcome the common faults in our decision-making and enable better choices in any situation? The answer lies in more conscious and intentional decision design.
The designers of decisions need to consider all the elements involved in presenting a choice: how many options to offer, how to present those options, how to account for our natural cognitive shortcuts, and much more. These levers are unappreciated and we’re often unaware of just how much they influence our reasoning every day.
We are all choice architects, for ourselves and for others. Whether you’re helping students choose the right school, helping patients pick the best health insurance plan, or deciding how to invest for your own retirement..the choice is ours to make!
BTW, very recently my colleagues at ISD Global and me had a chance to attend a fireside chat hosted by Columbia University Professor Rita McGrath( and author of the fantastic book Seeing Around Corners) with Eric Roberts, another Columbia University Professor and author of a new book ” Elements of Choice ” where he dives deep about the concept of Choice Architecture and shares some insightful examples. A book worth reading if you see this( and Behavioral Economics) as a subject of interest.
ENDS