Some time ago, one of my clients challenged me to record the 20 most important lessons I’ve learned. After a great deal of reflection, I eventually came up with 25. This is one. Most people don’t think deeply.
I know that sounds harsh and doesn’t sit well with many of you. Give me a moment and let me explain. First, I am not the first person to make that observation. The late philosopher Bertrand Russel said, “Most people would rather die than think. In fact, they do.”
And A.E. Housman said, “A moment’s thought would have shown him. But a moment is a long time, and thought is a painful process.”
The great 20th Century educator, John Dewey, noted that “The function of reflective thought is, therefore, to transform a situation in which there is experienced obscurity, doubt, conflict, disturbance of some sort, into a situation that is clear, coherent, settled, harmonious.”
On a societal level
Let’s start there. On a global scale, if the function of ‘good thinking” (my interpretation of Dewey’s ‘reflective thought’) is to create a situation which is coherent, settled and harmonious, does our current state of rancor, disagreement, conflict and dissonance indicate a lack of thinking?
YES! In our society, at its current state, we don’t think together, and we don’t think well at all. If we did, we wouldn’t be in the situation we are in. I just read a study that concluded that about 50% of the American population could not tell the difference between a political opinion, and a statement of fact. Could it be because they don’t think about it?
The causes for this state of affairs are all around us.
Social media has to be at the head of the list.
While it is certainly possible for one to share a well-reasoned, rational post, it is rare. Rather, it seems that the most popular format is to jump to a conclusion, mimic what your tribe says, give no one the benefit of the doubt, and not consider an alternative point of view. . The news feeds of every social media site are jammed with rancorous, thoughtless comments.
The mass media has chipped in as well. Most of their ‘reporting’ is nothing but selective excerpts designed to support their agendas. No one thinks deeply, being content with parroting the ‘talking points’ of their respective mentors.
What about higher education?
Can’t we count on them to teach their students how to think, and to encourage them to do? Alas, it is a rare college that manages to teach that. We have college presidents admitting to plagiarism, and many of our formerly best universities have fallen into the thoughtless habit of jumping to conclusions, embracing radial agendas, and creating ‘safe spaces” where students don’t have to encounter someone who thinks differently.
And what about those who we expect to think well – the politicians we elect to serve our interests and protect our country? Daily we see them take thoughtless positions to support their party’s talking points or promote their own interests instead of thoughtfully considering the problems and solutions.
I could go on and on, because the individuals and institutions that contribute to the current state of disharmony are almost too many to mention.
On a personal level
In my world, I spend most of my time working with sales professionals – salespeople, sales managers, VPs of sales, and CEOs. While no one has ever said this to me, nor me to them, the service I bring to them is to think for them.
For example, one of my books, on time management for salespeople (11 Secrets of Time Management for Salespeople) has become a world book, with translations into eight language and 20 countries.
Yet, good time management is simply a case of ‘thinking about it before you do it.” Most B2B salespeople have simply not thought about it. It isn’t because they are incapable, because they are very resourceful and capable people. They are of sufficient education and intelligence, but they just don’t invest that in thinking.
Part of the reason is that they are pressed for time and thinking takes time. Their time and energy is consumed by the urgent call of today’s tasks, and they don’t have the time nor the inclination to say “no” to the urgent in order to create the time to think.
One of the practices that I teach has to do with a method for ranking customers by their potential, and then adjusting your time to invest it more heavily in the higher potential. There is nothing magical about it. I believe that if a half dozen salespeople were to sit down and think deeply about it, they would probably come up with something similar. But they don’t. And my ranking system is often a watershed moment for many salespeople and is often transformational for many sales teams.
I could make similar observations about the sales managers, VP’s and CEOs that I work with. They are all certainly capable of the kind of thinking that will make a difference in their sales teams, and their companies, but few actually do.
That’s why it is one of my 25 most important lessons.
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