Mind vs. Mind: Is Thinking Differently Fit or Misfit?

But the point is that we could always intend to approach the problems at mindset level,

People are different, not because we look different, but more crucially, we think differently. The variety of thought makes the world diversified, innovative and sophisticated. The complementary thoughts can overcome the common challenges facing in humankind, but the misunderstanding with each other causes the chaos, conflict and even man-made disaster. The brain is only an organic computer that creates an energy or operating system called the mind. The mind creates programs called our thoughts. We can change our thoughts just as we can change applications on a computer. Still, what’s the best way to get out-of-date thoughts at industrial age (such as silo, stereotypical, command-control, bias, extreme thinking, etc) out, and equip the brain with the new types of digital thinking (such as holism, balance, creativity, growth, paradox, systems thinking, etc.)

To know the power, you have to know your thoughts. Once you know them, then you know if they are useful or harmful. If something is harmful, why would you hold it, you will let it go and embrace only that which adds value and make you feel good. Our minds are conditioned based on our own belief systems, education, and past happenings. We get innumerable thoughts every moment, they pass unconsciously. We act based on these unconscious thoughts. Choosing thoughts consciously would be arduous. It would be difficult to be conscious all the time to keep choosing thoughts, but it’s the very thoughts decide who you are, the quality of your thinking decides your professionalism and leadership influence.

A wise mind has something to do with sound judgment: The truth is that each of us is a 'complex blend of contrasts - positive and negative; intuitive and logical' with imperfect judgment. We all want to believe that our judgment is perfect, yet none of us can claim to be a perfect character. If we are not perfect people, recruiters, and candidates alike, the chance of bias doubles with each encounter. More people in assessing each other, the risk increases exponentially. With all these imperfection, it is true that we must use our judgment in everything we do - including the selection of a candidate, making better decisions, discovering the alternative solutions to problems., etc. Some say the meditative mind is "unconsciously" conscious. It is a re-programmed mind. You start choosing positive thoughts by default, to know the power of your thoughts, you must be able to balance between positive and negative, intuition and logic, etc.

The digital fit is less about thinking alike, more about thinking differently: Fit in an organizational context simply means 'like us' or 'different from us.' And, it can be good or bad. The key lies in integrating both the good and the bad. You need to think about fit differently than you do now. For example, put emphasis on organizational cultural fit. That is a concern because the tendency is to hire people who are like-minded and with similar backgrounds. It's a good question about whose fit - you need to discuss the types of talent needed to stretch your thinking and who have diverse backgrounds in multiple dimensions - the cognitive difference, character, education, life experience, work experience, culture intelligence, interests, etc. In this way, you get the new perspective from outside your own disciplines, as if you let the ‘out of the box’ thought coming into your own thinking box. It's about creating a diverse gene pool, if you will, so you avoid organizational incest. If you think of culture as an expression of values in practice (which is incomplete but at least measurable), you can have an alignment of values, but diverse perspectives. One's values emerge from personal, local and national culture, so people may express their values differently and have a different understanding of what's important. This is particularly important when working globally. Although there's a tendency to want like-minded colleagues, which is more comfortable, organizations need diversity of character, mindset, personality, talent, and experience to be innovative. You need to cultivate a willingness to learn to be comfortable with and value difference and hire people who seem “misfit,” but fit differently and progressively.

It is hard to say we can make an ‘apple to apple’ comparison of mind vs. mind. But the point is that we could always intend to approach the problems at mindset level, mind assessment goes beyond the conventional IQ testing, but about evaluating multidimensional intelligence and cross-disciplinary transcendence. Approaching problems at behavior level is to fix the symptom, but digging through the mindset is to cure the root cause. It is the mind keeps us learn, understand, grow and mature!

“Whenever we proceed from the known into the unknown we may hope to understand, but we may have to learn at the same time a new meaning of the word 'understanding.” ― Werner Heisenberg

Posted in: Connecting Dots,Digital Fit,Mindshift