Wisdom Is Not Enough by Jeff Appelquist

Author:Jeff Appelquist
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-1-59298-385-8
Publisher: Beaver's Pond
Published: 2011-12-15T00:00:00+00:00

Recognition of the potential adverse effects of the electronic bombardment that we all weather on a daily basis is the first step in dealing with the problem. Consciously and consistently creating time to focus and concentrate is the solution.

— CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE —

FRAME THE

CHALLENGE

CORRECTLY

“The test of a first-rate intelligence is the

ability to hold two opposite ideas in mind

at the same time and still retain the

ability to function.”

– F. Scott Fitzgerald

In 1989, the venerable book publisher Encyclopedia Britannica generated $627 million in revenues by selling hard-bound encyclopedias priced at $1,300 per set. A mere five years later, sales had plummeted to less than $300 million. Other producers of encyclopedias had captured huge chunks of Britannica’s market share by introducing CD-ROM options that allowed customers to peruse articles in a more interesting, flexible, and cheaper way. Britannica had been slow to adopt the new digital technology for the primary reason that it viewed itself as a book seller, rather than as a purveyor of knowledge and information that might be sold in many different forms. Company leadership stubbornly persisted in holding onto a frame for understanding its business that was woefully outdated. By the time Britannica recognized its mistake and took steps to recover, it nearly imploded. Leadership had failed miserably in one of its most fundamental responsibilities: the requirement to frame the challenge correctly.

What is a frame? Succinctly put, frames help us to simplify reality. Frames enable us to make sense of and understand the complex world that surrounds us. They are assumptions we make that allow us to determine how to expend our energy, what to focus on, and what to ignore. According to scholar Marvin L. Minsky, “The terms frame and framing have their origin in cognitive science and artificial intelligence…. and refer to the mental representations that allow humans to perceive, interpret, judge, choose, and act.” The way that we frame a problem or a challenge has a potentially huge impact on how we communicate, approach solutions and, ultimately, make decisions. We all use frames constantly and they are incredibly important in facilitating our day-to-day functioning.

The problem lies in the fact that frames sometimes cause tunnel vision. We can become trapped in overly rigid frames. In short, as the leadership team at Encyclopedia Britannica so painfully discovered, frames can be occasionally dead wrong in ways that ultimately prove disastrous.

The words leaders use to communicate framing to their followers matter greatly. Studies demonstrate that even slight changes in the wording of a problem or challenge can have a significant impact on the way people respond. For example, a well-known study by Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky highlights the importance of decision frames. The researchers found that people are more inclined to take higher risks if a decision is framed with emphasis on a potential loss. Conversely, if a decision is framed with a positive emphasis on potential gain people tend to think more broadly and take fewer unnecessary chances. These results are true even when the practical outcome in either case is the same.

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