Hello,
I’m starting a new season (aka experiment) of this newsletter. Now with weekly issues that, over time, I expect to be more juicy and interesting than the daily ramblings of season 3.
One of the topics I’ve been flirting with is the concept of Thinking.
Sounds weird, I know. But, if you’re not familiar, you should try it.
What one has to say about thinking?
What if I tell you that thinking is getting out of fashion or is even becoming a rare activity?
Upgrading our thinking quality (or even starting thinking) can have an outsize impact on the world. At least, that’s how I convinced myself to go down this path.
We live in a world that worships execution. But I advocate that it is time to go back to Thinking.
What do you think?
Thanks for reading
Hugo
Why Think
You're not getting smarter.
If you don't take care of your brain, it will decay. So biologically, the brain will decay, but on top of that, the “environmental noise” will make it dumber.
Healthy habits are not enough.
With time we get more attached to our old ideas, they get ingrained in our brains and our identity. But, at the same time, every day, our brains get polluted with other people's ideas and beliefs.
If we don't take care of our brains and update our thinking, we risk getting stalled and going backward.
Why should we even care about thinking?
Thinking = freedom
Thinking is a form of freedom. If you care about freedom, about not being subject to others’ decisions and worldviews, you should care about thinking. Thinking so we can make our own minds.
If you don’t think for yourself, you’re more subject to living with others people’s scripts, living an average life and being subject to others’ decisions.
There’s no freedom without the freedom to think. But freedom to think only exist if we exercise the act of thinking. If we refuse to use templates, to comply by default, to accept what others have thought for us. Freedom to think only exists if we refuse to be just followers and take the lead of our minds.
Thinking for a better world
My belief is that thinking better can lead to better outcomes and, therefore, a better world. How we make sense of the world and how we decide to act depends on the quality of our thinking.
In today’s world, thinking has a bad reputation.
People equate thinking as the opposite of acting, and not acting is bad. They look at “thinking” as a passive activity with no clear outcomes or impact.
People recurrently shut down thinking:
“Don’t over complicate”
“Let’s not debate this now”
“What are you trying to achieve with these questions”
We live in a world of absolute and fixed ideas, where we have no time and space to discuss, challenge and think - alone or in a group.
Thinking also gets some people anxious, nervous and afraid. If we think is because we’re questioning, because we doubt, because we’re challenging. Challenging the status-quo, the dominating view and maybe even authority.
Just think it
We live in a world of “Just do it”.
But the famous Nike slogan is about determination and believing you can do it. It is not about mindless execution: “don’t think, just do it”, “don’t argue, just do it”. “don’t question, just do it”.
Stop and Think.
We hire Operators and Managers but we don’t hire Thinkers.
We complain that consultants “just” produce documents and don’t execute them.
We care about execution, but do we even consider the thinking?
Execution is to know how to effectively climb a mountain.
Thinking is to know what mountain to climb. 1
What thinking?
So much conversation about the benefits of thinking, is time to double-click and explore different ways that we can go about it.
Not sure about you, but I tend to associate Thinking with its analytical version. But there are many more modes of thinking that we should leverage:
Analytical thinking: analysis means separating the different elements. This is a logical, step-by-step approach to problem-solving that involves breaking down complex ideas or situations into smaller parts and examining them individually. Analytical thinking is often used in fields such as science, engineering, and mathematics.
Creative thinking: This involves generating new ideas or solutions to problems by looking at things in a different way. Creative thinking is traditionally associated with the arts but can be super powerful in all sorts of fields.
Critical thinking: This is a mode of thinking that involves analyzing and evaluating information to make informed decisions. Critical thinking cares about questioning ideas and beliefs.
Systems thinking: This mode of thinking involves looking at how different parts of a system interact with each other to create a whole. Systems thinking is often found in fields such as ecology, economics, and engineering.
Intuitive thinking: This type of thinking involves relying on instinct or gut feelings to make decisions.
Reflective thinking: This mode of thinking involves examining one's own thoughts and feelings in order to gain insight and understanding.
Probabilistic thinking: This mode of thinking involves understanding and assessing the likelihood of different outcomes and making decisions based on those probabilities. By understanding the likelihood of different outcomes, we can make better decisions in uncertain situations and avoid overconfidence or underestimation of risks.
Different people will be better at different modes of thinking, and although you might have a natural pull to one of them, you should learn and practice how to use the whole tool set.
Thinking is not only a muscle. It is a whole set of muscles. And you need to work out to build that thinking power.
It also helps to bring other people that think differently to the table to think and decide with you. That’s the power of diversity and that’s a way to hedge the risk of narrow thinking and a way to explore new possibilities.
This reminds me of Hats.
An Icon with thinking hats
Years ago, I had the privilege to attend a masterclass with Eduard De Bono (1933-2021). He seemed like an odd figure at the time. Quite old, sitting in a chair next to an overhead projector, scribbling on it from start to finish - there were no slides, and the overhead projector was his whiteboard. And he used it seated, always. He spoke in a monotone, barely looked at the audience or made any connection, as far as I remember.
But here was the guy that worked on creative thinking and created concepts like “Lateral Thinking” — that was enough to get my full attention.
Edward De Bono was a Maltese physician, psychologist, and author who is best known for his work in the field of creative thinking and problem-solving. De Bono developed numerous techniques and tools to help individuals and groups improve their ability to generate new ideas, solve problems, and make decisions. In addition to the 7 Thinking Hats technique, some of his other notable contributions include the concept of lateral thinking, the Six Thinking Hats technique, and the CoRT Thinking program. He authored more than 80 books, which have been translated into 40 languages and sold millions of copies worldwide. De Bono was a consultant to numerous organizations and governments, and he received many awards and honors for his contributions to the field of creative thinking.
The 6 thinking hats are a tool for group decision-making and problem-solving. The technique involves using a virtual "hat" of a different color, which represents a different mode of thinking. The seven hats are:
White Hat: This represents objective thinking and focuses on facts and data.
Red Hat: This represents emotional thinking and allows for intuition and gut feelings.
Black Hat: This represents critical thinking and involves assessing potential risks and negative consequences.
Yellow Hat: This represents optimistic thinking and involves considering potential benefits and positive outcomes.
Green Hat: This represents creative thinking and encourages generating new ideas and possibilities.
Blue Hat: This represents facilitation thinking and involves managing the thinking process, setting goals, and organizing the discussion.
The way I like to use this technique is to do rounds of participation where we’re all using the same hat. For example, while discussing a plan, instead of everyone randomly giving feedback and asking questions, we can guide the group through the different “hats” so everyone is in the same “mode of thinking”. For example, everyone puts on the Red Hat and expresses emotions, intuitions and gut feelings, avoiding any analysis or creativity. Then we all change hats.
It's important to note that these modes of thinking are not mutually exclusive, and the power comes from using them in combination and in sequence.
By using this technique, participants can approach a problem or decision from different perspectives, leading to more thorough and well-rounded discussions. The technique also helps to avoid groupthink and encourages creative thinking.
Reading about thinking
There are many ways to sharpen your thinking, and one of them is reading - lose yourself in a book. And if the book is about thinking, then you get compounding effects!
Here are three books about thinking that influence and inspire me:
Think Again by Adam Grant: How often do you challenge your own beliefs and assumptions? In "Think Again", Adam Grant argues that the most successful people are those who are willing to rethink their ideas and adapt to new information.
Thinking in Bets by Annie Duke: What can we learn from professional poker players about decision-making? In "Thinking in Bets," Annie Duke shows us how to assess risk, overcome cognitive biases, and make more informed choices in both our personal and professional lives.
Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman: Our brains have two thinking systems, and they don't always agree. In this classic book, Nobel Prize-winning psychologist Daniel Kahneman explains the biases and heuristics that influence our thinking and provides practical advice for making better decisions.
Challenge yourself to think more deeply and explore these books to improve your thinking skills.
In the meantime, let me know what do you think about this issue.
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For those with some background in optimization algorithms, this resembles local vs. global maximum. Execution finds the local maximum, thinking expands the search for a global maximum. So the combination of thinking and execution is what enables us to find the global maximum.