The World Economic Forum (The future of Jobs) estimated the 10 skills that would be required to thrive in the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Particularly noteworthy is the position that creativity holds, which was considered less significant just 5 years ago, and now ranks among the top three skills, along with complex problem-solving and critical thinking.
But why has it become so strategic today, more than yesterday, to act on these skills? And above all, through which concrete behaviors can we daily train these abilities?
Certainly, the complexity with which we are dealing at various levels dissuades us from thinking linearly and in isolated dimensions. Instead, it challenges us to adopt multidimensional thinking that deconstructs and dismantles through falsifications, doubts, and questions before building or rebuilding.
It disrupts the “we’ve always done it this way” approach and a predictive system based solely on what has worked in the past. Moreover, it keeps us vigilant against cognitive biases, often staunch adversaries of critical thinking.
Let’s start by focusing on an aspect that many of us have certainly experienced directly. Now, let’s imagine a group, a work group characterized by high cohesion and sincere engagement of people. A group that is almost enviable for the speed at which everyone tends to converge, through broad consensus, towards a single shared vision.
With a bit of regret, let’s pause our imagination and try to see what can happen when the tendency to achieve unanimity prevails over the evaluation of further alternative actions.
Gerry Lane, a former investigator of the United States, is in desperate search of patient zero. He has only one chance to save his family’s life. A virus of unknown origin transforms humans into zombies, mutant and ferocious creatures, determined to spread the infection to the remaining humans at any cost. The epidemic rages all over the globe. The virus must be isolated and a vaccine prepared as quickly as possible.
From Philadelphia, through North Korea, he arrives in Jerusalem. Here, the head of Mossad, Warmbrunn, has turned the city into a fortress, managing to contain the pandemic impact. Warmbrunn intercepted communications in India, discovering the early signs of infection weeks before and took preventive action to protect the territory.
“But why would a High-ranking official in the Mossad, described as a rational, efficient, and far from suggestible person, build a wall just because he reads a statement containing the word ‘zombies?” Gerry presses, somewhere between astonishment and suspicion.
“Well, when put like that, l’d be skeptical as well. In the ’30s, Jews refused to believe they could be sent to concentration camps; In ’72, we refused to fathom we’d be massacred in the Olympics; In the month before October 1 ’73, we saw Arab troop movements, and we unanimously agreed they didn’t pose a threat. Well, a month later, the Arab attack almost drove us into the sea. So, we decided to make a change.“
THE TENTH MAN.
“lf nine of us look at the same information and arrive at the exact same conclusion, it’s the duty of the tenth man to disagree. No matter how improbable it may seem, the tenth man has to start digging on the assumption that the other nine are wrong.“
Keywords: dissent, assumption, and doubt!
Irving Janis (1972) defines the Groupthink phenomenon as “a mode of thinking that people engage in when they are deeply involved in a cohesive group, where the tendency for seeking unanimity is stronger than the motivations each individual has for pursuing alternative courses of action.” This approach is supported by the illusion of invulnerability (people believe they can never fail), and there is direct or indirect pressure on anyone who attempts to dissent. The “everyone thinks it’s right” often acts as a Linus blanket that deceives us into thinking that the majority is always more right than we are.
Jerry, after his encounter with Warmbrumm, follows his intuition: he notices that only healthy individuals without any infectious disease are being targeted in the assaults… we will never know how crucial his reflection with the head of Mossad was in identifying a possible solution for him. We have a fact: he will save his family. And we have another fact: I like to imagine it that way!
And do you commit, whatever your role, in organizations as well as in life, to ensure that there is always a “tenth man” on board with you?
What would happen if you were the “tenth man”?
And if you had the courage to support your intuition more strongly when everyone else is going in the opposite direction? How does practicing this behavior allow us to train the skills considered strategic today?
Because, after all, as Francesca Gino skillfully illustrates in “Rebel Talent,”
“Rebels have a bad reputation. We often tend to see them as troublemakers, contrarians, and misfits: that particular category of colleagues, friends, and family members who like to complicate simple decisions, create confusion, and disagree when everyone else agrees. Truth be told, though, it’s the rebels who improve the world, thanks to their unconventional perspective on things. Instead of seeking safe footholds, retreating into routine and tradition, they openly challenge the status quo. They are masters of innovation and the art of reinvention, and for this reason, they have much to teach us.“
