Persuadable: How Great Leaders Change Their Minds to Change the World by Al Pittampalli

Author:Al Pittampalli
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2016-01-25T14:00:00+00:00

Lean Entrepreneurs and the Fastest Way to Truth

During the 2015 NBA Finals, fans of both sides were highly, if predictably, critical of the referees. When a foul was called on one of their own players, fans were outraged by the idiocy of the refs. Glued to their television sets, they would pick apart the instant replay, trying to find the error in the call. Yet when a foul was called against the other team, were fans as critical? Not even close. Instead, they sat back in their chairs, celebrating what was obviously stellar officiating.

We have an absurd double standard: we desperately try to kill unfavored beliefs that others try to impose on us, while we give our own favored beliefs a pass. It’s a bias that affects people of all levels of ambition and professional achievement, reaching all the way up to the president—in fact, it’s arguable that this double standard may have contributed to keeping Mitt Romney out of the White House. For several weeks leading up to the 2012 presidential election, the independent polls suggested that Romney was behind by a much larger margin than his internal polls said. In retrospect, Romney’s internal polls were biased in his favor by an average of almost five percentage points.6 Romney’s staff, however, was critical of the independent polls. According to one top aide: “When anyone raised the idea that public polls were showing a close race, the campaign’s pollster said the poll modeling was flawed and everyone moved on.”7 Do you think they applied the same level of scrutiny to their own polls?

The problem with this lapse of inquiry was that these internal polls drove campaign strategy. Since it looked like Romney was ahead in key states like New Hampshire and Colorado, in the final weeks, the campaign focused its efforts on states like Pennsylvania instead.8 In general, instead of a full-court press, which was probably necessary considering how behind Romney was, many argued that he played it far too safe.

We’re all guilty of this double standard; it’s pervasive in our lives. Consider the common experience of stumbling across an article on social media that, just from the headline, you know you already disagree with. Slightly annoyed, you can’t help but click on the link and scan the article to find the conclusion (or the author) disgusting. Then you give it a closer read, scrutinizing every word in the most uncharitable way possible and dismissing the sources as biased propaganda. If you’re feeling especially combative, you might even engage in some spontaneous online research, hunting down evidence that contradicts some of the article’s more egregious assertions—until, at last, you can confidently dismiss the article as fictitious garbage. But compare this protocol to your experience of reading an article whose conclusion aligns with your existing worldview. You read it. You love it. You share it with your friends. All this without any skepticism whatsoever.

The willingness to kill your own darlings is an advantage because it’s the fastest path to the truth. Plus, what’s the alternative, really? Believing something isn’t true doesn’t make it so.

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