Posted on by Shaun Coffey

Humility is the new smart. (Book Notes)

Humility is the New Smart. Rethinking Human Excellence in the Smart Machine Age. 2017.  Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc. Oakland, California.  ISBN 978-1-62656-875-4

A selection of quotes prepared by Shaun Coffey.  These are all taken verbatim from the book, and are not subject of any interpretation.

 Premise

p.18.  Technology that can learn and even program itself will become ubiquitous in homes, factories, and offices and soon displaced even the highly-educated people who have thought that their professions are immune to the risk of automation, including accountants, business managers, doctors, lawyers, journalists, researchers, architects, higher education teachers, and consultants. Artificial intelligence – deep learning or machine learning – will be especially transformative in this regard.

p.21 Organisations will need their people to be hyper learners who can adapt to rapidly changing environments.

Chapter 2. NewSmart: A New Definition of “Smart”

p.36-37. To change our mental models for the SMA, we first need to accept a quality-based definition of “been smart” – a NewSmart – that we define as excelling at the highest level of thinking, learning, and emotionally engaging with others that one is capable of doing. NewSmart is a measure not of what you know or how much you know but of

  • the quality of your thinking, listening, collaborating, and learning;
  • how good you are at not knowing and decoupling your beliefs (not values) from your ego;
  • how good you are and been open to continually stress testing your beliefs about how the world works; and
  • how good you are at trying out new ideas and ways to accomplish your objectives of learning from those experiments.

p.38.  …the following five principles exemplify NewSmart:

  1. I am defined not by what I know or how much I know, by the quality of my thinking, listening, relating, and collaborating.
  2. My mental models are not reality – they are only my generalised stories of how my world works.
  3. I’m not my ideas, and I must decouple my beliefs (not values) from my ego.
  4. I must be open-minded and treat my beliefs (not values) as hypotheses to be constantly tested and subject to modification by better data.
  5. My mistakes and failures are opportunities to learn.

 

p.44.

Old Smart NewSmart
I know I’m good at not knowing
I tell I ask

 

p.46.

Old Smart NewSmart
Defend my views Improve my views
Seek confirmation Seek truth

 

p.51

Old Smart NewSmart
Closed mind Open mind
Insecure if beliefs are challenged Insecure if beliefs are NOT challenged

 

p.56.

Old Smart NewSmart
Mistakes are bad Mistakes are learning opportunities
Perfectionism Learning

 

Chapter 3. Humility: The Gateway to Human Excellence in the SMA

pp.59-60.  We define Humility as a mindset about oneself that is open-minded, self-accurate, and “not all about me,” and that enables one to embrace the world as it “is” in the pursuit of human excellence.

That doesn’t mean thinking less of yourself, but it does mean thinking about yourself less…..

p.62.

Old Cultural Ways New Cultural Ways
Individuals win Teams win
Play cards close to the chest Transparency
Highest-ranking person can trump Best idea or argument wins
Listening to confirm Listening to learn
Telling Asking questions
Knowing Being good at not knowing
IQ IQ & EQ
Mistakes are always bad Mistakes and learning opportunities
Compete Collaborate
Self-promote Self-reflect

 

p.65.  …the psychological attributes of humility are

  1. having an acute (not over- or underestimated) view of one’s abilities and achievements;
  2. been able to acknowledge one’s mistakes, imperfections, gaps in knowledge, and limitations;
  3. been open to new ideas, contradictory information, and advice;
  4. keeping one’s abilities and accomplishments in perspective;
  5. having a low focus on self or a tendency to “forget the self; and
  6. appreciating the values of all things and the many different ways other people and things contribute to the world.”

p.65-67.  Humility in the context of these psychological tenants is similar to the philosophical principle of mediocrity that is so fundamental to science, but is one of the most contentious and difficult scientific concepts for people to grasp, according to the biologist P.Z.Myers, who explains its meaning this way:

The mediocrity principle simply states that you aren’t special. The universe does not revolve around you…. Most of what happens in the world is just a consequence of natural, universal laws – laws that apply everywhere and to everything, with no special exemptions or amplifications for your benefit.p.

pp.67-69.  Humility underlies and can enable humans to excel at every one of the NewSmart Behaviours and SMA Skills. You’ll be able to see that more clearly when we describe the behaviours in detail in Part two.  In sum:

Humility includes a strength to “forget the self,” which in turn fosters:

  • Quieting Ego
  • Reflective Listening
  • Managing Self
  • Otherness (emotionally connecting and relating to others)

Humility includes open-mindedness, a required state of mind for:

  • Critical thinking
  • Innovative thinking
  • Creativity

Humility includes accepting our strengths, weaknesses, and mistakes, and keeping our abilities and accomplishments in perspective, which makes these tasks easier:

  • Stress-testing our thinking
  • Admitting when we don’t know the answer
  • Learning iteratively
  • Managing Self (thinking and emotions)

Humility includes an appreciation for the value of other people, which enables:

  • empathy
  • Relationship building
  • Collaboration
  • User-centric innovative thinking

We are not saying that a complete loss of self-interest or ambition is advisable. Certainly not. The problem is not in being more successful than others but in needing to prove that where better/smarter/more special than others in order to feel successful, which leads to the kind of ego defensiveness that gets in our own way. It’s that kind of excessive self-focus that’s not in our long-term interest in the SMA. Instead, the outward focus that follows from a Humility mindset is what’s in our best interest. Truly effective teamwork, collaboration, and innovation can’t happen when we are defensive or when where to tied up in looking or feeling superior to our colleagues, teammates, client, or customers (big me). We must instead approached the SMA with Humility (big ask).

Big Me Big Pass
Ego defensive Self-accurate
Self-focus “Forget the self”
Big mouth Big ears
Inwardness Outwardness

 

A side note about a common confusion between modesty, which means a lack of boastfulness, and humility: in many cases modesty is about social proprietary rather than a person’s actual disposition. Consider the self-deprecating person who downplays or refutes compliments, claiming that he or she isn’t that good, or smart, or creative, or makes a fuss that whatever he or she did wasn’t that hard or whatever. While on the surface such people are making a show of not thinking too highly of themselves, in actuality these kinds of statements are hyperfocused on the self. Humility is often reflected in modesty, but the reverse is not necessarily true.

Chapter 4. Quieting Ego

p.79. Quieting Ego is how we can deliberately work to reduce our reflexive emotional defensiveness; have empathy and open-mindedness; engage in Reflective Listening; and proactively seek other people’s feedback and perspectives to stress-test alone thinking.

p.80.  We have found that the most effective way to quiet our ego is through practising mindfulness.

p.84.  In mindfulness, we start to see the world as it is, not as we expect it to be, how we wanted to be, or what we fear it might become….

Chapter 5. Managing Self: Thinking and Emotions

p.100-102.  Thinking toolbox

after identifying the purpose – the what and why – of your thinking, you can then apply the right thinking or decision-making tools, processes, checklists, or 10 plates for that particular purpose from a “thinking toolbox.” Our thinking toolbox includes the following;

  • Root cause analysis: what is the real problem or the real cause? This analysis commonly uses the “Five Whys” – a process of asking why something happened and then asking why that ansa happened repeatedly at least five times to get to the root cause.
  • Unpacking the assumptions: What assumptions and inferences am I making? For each assumption, am I making further assumptions? What data do I have to support those assumptions? What facts would disprove these assumptions? Have I search for those facts?
  • Critical thinking tools: provided below.
  • If-then thinking: if I do this, then what is likely to happen? What then could happen?

(note: the authors give more examples – may need to come back to the critical thinking tools)

Chapter 6. Reflective Listening

p.120.  Getting Ready to Listen Reflectively

we have found the following checklist helpful, for us as well as many of its clients, in getting primed to focus on Reflective Listening before a meeting or conversation:

  1. Is my mind clear? If not, take several deep, slow breaths.
  2. Am I currently emotional? If not, take a few more deep breaths, focusing on breathing in for four seconds and very, very slowly breathing out for four seconds.
  3. Say to yourself a couple of times:
    • “I am not my ideas.”
    • “It’s not all about me.”
    • “Don’t be defensive.”
    • “Ask questions before telling.”
    • “Don’t interrupt.”
    • “Stay focused.”
    • “Critique ideas, not people.”
    • “Listen to understand, not to confirm.”

Chapter 7. Otherness: Emotionally Connecting and Relating to Others

p.124. …there are five keys to connecting with others. You have t0

  1. be present;
  2. the genuine;
  3. communicate affirmation;
  4. listen effectively; and
  5. communicate support.

p.129.  It’s helpful to create a shortlist that you can use before a meeting to remind yourself how to connect and relate. He is our list, which results from “making meaning” of the research. Your list may be different after making your own meaning.

  1. Be really present.
  2. Genuinely smile – a big smile.
  3. Make eye contact.
  4. The positive.
  5. Listen reflectively.
  6. Stay fully present.
  7. Do no harm.

p.130-131.  Choose Words Wisely.

In our work over the years, we have learnt some other amazing tips on language that help us better connect and relate to others. For example, in its executive education classes, the tools that help the most to facilitate connecting with others in conversation was to say “Yes and…” instead of  “Yes, but…”  That simple difference in phrasing changes conversations by making them less judgemental and hierarchical and can help to reduce the other person’s defensive reactions.

Ed learned this tool from a colleague, Jeanne Liedtka, a professor at the Darden School of Business and a highly regarded design thinking expert, who in turn had learnt it from Darden ethics, strategy and leadership professor Alec Horniman. While observing one of her classes over nine years ago, Ed recalls Liedtka making two memorable points to her executive students. First, she asked them to consider what happened if they change their “Yes, but…” responses to “Yes,  and…” ones. Second, she said something that central to excelling at the SMA Skills: “We all would be much better or for at work and at home if we treated everything we believe as a hypothesis to be tested.”

The “Yes,  and…” point applies as well to our pension for thinking in dichotomies. Many of us often think that everything is either X or Y. Most dichotomies, however, are false, because most things exist along the continuum. In The Achievement Habit Bernard Roth shared some other language tips. He advises using “want to” instead of “have to” and to use “won’t” instead of “can’t”, because in each case the former emphasises that you have the power of choice. Similarly, we learn from Ray Dalio to say “I believe” instead of “I think”, in order to recognise that our beliefs are subject to critical stress-testing by others and that we may not be thinking clearly. Lastly, going back to the discussion of gratitude, you can’t thank you enough people enough of the time. Well, maybe you can, but  few of us are that thoughtful.

Chapter 8. Your NewSmart Behaviours Assessment Tool

p.134.  Please note that this is only a tool – it has not been statistically validated. The tools purpose is to provide you with information, and it’ll be useful to you only if you’re totally honest about assessing yourself. To get a realistic picture, some people have found it helpful to have other trusted people also assessment.

Chapter 9. Leading a NewSmart Organisation

pp.153-155.

  1. The organisation of the future will likely look a lot different from the organisation of today because of converging forces of change: technology, demographic shifts, the low sigh of economic growth in the world, and ever-increasing transparency, connectivity, change and uncertainty.
  2. In most cases, the organisation of the future will likely be staffed by some combination of smart robots, smart thinking machines, and humans, with humans doing those tasks that complement technology or that technology can’t do well.
  3. Technology will likely play a major role in the following business functions: accounting, quality control, finance, operations, marketing, strategy, logistics, distribution, and decision analysis. That will likely mean a reduction in the number of human employees, and in some industries that reduction could be quite large.
  4. Operational excellence will likely be technology driven and thus commoditised, leaving innovation as the primary value creator and differentiator in many businesses.
  5. For most organisations, the only sustainable competitive advantage long term will likely be the ability to learn and to adapt faster than the competition.
  6. In that case, human development will likely become an individual and organisational specific imperative, because humans will need to excel at continuous learning, and we believe that requires excelling at the NewSmart Behaviours.
  7. Talented humans will be in high demand globally and will likely place higher value on the meaningfulness of work and on their own growth and development than on the location of the work all their longevity of employment with anyone employer.
  8. Humans will be needed to do the four SMA Skills: higher-order critical thinking, innovative thinking, creativity, and high emotional engagement with other people. Leaders and managers will be needed to create the right conditions that enable the highest levels of human performance and orchestrate the connectivity and integration of technology and humans in order to create value in constantly involving environments.
  9. Humans will likely have to be more agile and adaptive, updating their mental models based on changing realities, and organisations will have to update their value propositions. Organisations in the human talent must excel at iterative learning, dealing with complexity, and creating value through innovation.
  10. An organisation’s competitive advantage from EU and perspective likely will depend on how well it humans overcome their natural proclivities to be confirmation-biased, emotionally defensive thinkers whose thinking and abilities to effectively work in teams are sub optimised by ego and fears. That could mean that the most successful companies in some industries will be those that excel at human development in addition to their core business.
  11. Every organisation will likely confront three big existential questions:

Will the organisation be able to learn, adapt, and innovate to meet stakeholder needs faster than its competition?

Will the organisation be able to create an environment that enables and promotes the highest levels of human development, human engagement, and human excellence in critical thinking, creativity, and innovation?

Will the organisation be able to attract, develop, and retain the best human learners, thinkers, and collaborators?

 

p.156.  How does an organisation design itself to meet these challenges? First, we believe it requires putting the right people in the right environment using the right kinds of processes.

Second, we believe that the answer will not be found in economics, finance, strategy, engineering, or computer science.  We believe that the answer will be found in the science of learning and in cognitive, social, positive, educational, and clinical psychology. We believe that the cultural and leadership model for the organisation of the future would be based on three psychological concepts:

  1. Positivity
  2. Self-Determination Theory
  3. Psychological Safety

Notes – see table p.62 on positivity

self-determination theory – SDT

p.162.   According to SDT, intrinsic motivation – the tendency to seek out new and challenging situations and expand cognitive and behavioural capacities for our own sake as opposed to fulfilling social of the obligations or gaining some extrinsic reward – is supported when three innate human needs are met:

  1. Autonomy: experience a feeling of volition and initiative.
  2. Relatedness: establishing a sense of mutual respect and reliance with others.
  3. Competence: succeeding it optimally challenging tasks and been able to attain desired outcomes.

Note – psychological safety is much the same the safety in learning circles. It’s about being nondefensive, open-minded and intellectually courageous, and having the courage to try new things and fail. Creating psychological safety is an important aspect of managers.

pp.166-167.  Psychologically safe environments have cultures of candor, permission to speak freely, and permission to make learning mistakes (within financial risk parameters), and they offer all employees a voice by devaluing elitism, hierarchy, and rank (other than with respect to compensation).

Feeling psychologically safe enables people to (1) seek constructive feedback and challenges to their thinking and (2) feel safe giving feedback and challenging others thinking, including higher-ups in the organisation. Feeling safe enables speaking up, having the courage to try new things, and behaving in ways that reflect NewSmart. Feeling safe is required for curiosity and having the courage to explore and innovate. Feeling safe means that you feel that your boss, your employer, and your colleagues will do you no harm as you try to learn.