Damien and I just had a most interesting philosophical conversation about knowledge.
We talked about something random, and he said (jokingly), “Everybody knows that.”
It got me thinking: is there any universal knowledge that “everybody” actually knows?
After much thought and further discussion, we determined that, for one reason or another, there isn’t.
I then concluded that “saying ‘Everybody knows that’ will always be wrong”—which he countered with that just that statement itself would be wrong because of the use of always.
Looking back years ago to when I took philosophy courses, I never would have thought that he and I would be having philosophical conversations regularly.
Insights from Blink on Decision-Making
It is not really related to the philosophical conversation, but in the book Blink, Gladwell discusses decision-making and how there are two parts of our brain that we use to make decisions—a conscious one and an unconscious one.
He also mentions that many decisions “made very quickly can be every bit as good as decisions made cautiously and deliberately.”
This brings me back to the decision-making process we adopted with The 6 Thinking Hats. While we use the full process for larger decisions, we often use only the Red Hat (emotional, gut, instinctive feeling) for smaller decisions.
It will be interesting to see how reading Blink may change my mind (or not) on the decision-making process we use for the business.
Ponder This
- Have you encountered situations where the assumption that "everybody knows that" turned out to be false?
- How do you balance conscious and unconscious decision-making in your personal or professional life?
Share your thoughts and experiences in the comments below!
Books
- Thinking Fast and Slow
- Influence
- Mindset
- Blink
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