One thing I started to think about after my last week’s blog Keeping an Open Mind are the circumstances as professionals where we can or should have a change of heart and change our minds. We tend quite rightly to get vested in our original decision reached after due deliberation. To do otherwise can be seen as vacillating and being indecisive, which our clients will not like. They want clear cut advice; can I take this particular action and what are the risks.
Yet there may be circumstances which require an original decision to be re-evaluated. I had a personal example this week. I had booked a short medical procedure (clearing wax from my ear) at a local hospital. My son pointed out that as I was going up to London to work a few days before, it would be more efficient and quicker to have the procedure done there. At first I argued against his advice, but then I calmed down and looked at the alternatives in London. It turned out there was a suitable BUPA centre in virtually the same building as our London office where I could have the procedure done in 30 minutes, which I duly did, saving a lot of time – and it was cheaper!
I think that we can all recognise this reluctance to change our minds, but why do we behave in this way? This blog Cognitive biases and brain biology help explain why facts don’t change minds explains this tendency saying “Partly to blame is a cognitive bias that can kick in when people encounter evidence that runs counter to their beliefs. Instead of reevaluating what they’ve believed up until now, people tend to reject the incompatible evidence. Psychologists call this phenomenon belief perseverance. Everyone can fall prey to this ingrained way of thinking.” and then “There's another cognitive bias that can get in the way of changing your mind, called confirmation bias. It's the natural tendency to seek out information or interpret things in a way that supports your existing beliefs. Interacting with like-minded people and media reinforces confirmation bias.” It recommends “Search out perspectives from multiple sides of an issue. Try to form, and modify, your opinions based on evidence that is accurate, objective and verified.”
While this blog Why Facts Don’t Change Our Minds explains that it is our inherent beliefs that drive us not the actual facts quoting the ~Economist J. K. Galbraith “Faced with a choice between changing one’s mind and proving there is no need to do so, almost everyone gets busy with the proof.” We need our fixed beliefs to establish our social connections – “We don’t always believe things because they are correct. Sometimes we believe things because they make us look good to the people we care about.”
So how as professional people can we be sure we have the facts right and have arrived at the best answer we can? I suggest one technique is to keep questioning and seeking out all the facts from different sources to support reaching the best possible conclusion. I worked for a lawyer once who asked me to find out about a particular situation which I did and reported back to him. He then held a meeting with our internal client and to my surprise ignored the information I had provided and questioned the client from first principles. This both verified some of what I had been told, and suggested some of it was wrong. We were then, armed with this fuller information, better able to make a legal judgement.
Nowadays we also have multiple sources we can check before arriving at an opinion or decision. I participated with some colleagues this week in a pro bono project with the law firm Baker & McKenzie where we had to find out in a “Justice in Action legal sprint” lasting an afternoon how a young person obtained an ID card – in Greece! Well not surprisingly we had no information about this at all as English professionals. However, what we did was use AI (ChatGPT and Bing) and Google searches to provide us with some general information which got us in the right ballpark – asking for sources where they existed. We then verified this information against various Greek government sites (using Google to translate into English) and came up with some reasonable answers from informed sources. They were not perfect but at least a good starting point.
For a concluding article I like this Forbes blog How Changing Your Thinking Can Change Your Life which says “By changing the way you think, you start to see changes in your attitude and behavior, which leads to a more fulfilling life overall.” Saying “Your thoughts are incredibly powerful. They have the ability to affect your mood, behavior and overall outlook on life. Yet they also have the power to overrule it.” and advising “When you're trying to solve a problem, it's important to take a step back and look at the big picture. By taking the time to assess the situation, you'll be able to come up with a plan of action that will help you tackle the problems and work toward achieving your goals.
It's also important to be flexible in your thinking. Don't get too attached to any one problem. Be open to trying new things and adjusting your solutions as needed. Every problem has multiple solutions. The more flexible you are, the easier it will be to find a solution that works for you.”
As Leo Tolstoy said: “The most difficult subjects can be explained to the most slow-witted man if he has not formed any idea of them already; but the simplest thing cannot be made clear to the most intelligent man if he is firmly persuaded that he knows already, without a shadow of doubt, what is laid before him.”
While the psychologist and author Edward de Bono observed “If you never change your mind, why have one?”
And Albert Einstein suggested “The measure of intelligence is the ability to change.”
Yet there may be circumstances which require an original decision to be re-evaluated. I had a personal example this week. I had booked a short medical procedure (clearing wax from my ear) at a local hospital. My son pointed out that as I was going up to London to work a few days before, it would be more efficient and quicker to have the procedure done there. At first I argued against his advice, but then I calmed down and looked at the alternatives in London. It turned out there was a suitable BUPA centre in virtually the same building as our London office where I could have the procedure done in 30 minutes, which I duly did, saving a lot of time – and it was cheaper!
I think that we can all recognise this reluctance to change our minds, but why do we behave in this way? This blog Cognitive biases and brain biology help explain why facts don’t change minds explains this tendency saying “Partly to blame is a cognitive bias that can kick in when people encounter evidence that runs counter to their beliefs. Instead of reevaluating what they’ve believed up until now, people tend to reject the incompatible evidence. Psychologists call this phenomenon belief perseverance. Everyone can fall prey to this ingrained way of thinking.” and then “There's another cognitive bias that can get in the way of changing your mind, called confirmation bias. It's the natural tendency to seek out information or interpret things in a way that supports your existing beliefs. Interacting with like-minded people and media reinforces confirmation bias.” It recommends “Search out perspectives from multiple sides of an issue. Try to form, and modify, your opinions based on evidence that is accurate, objective and verified.”
While this blog Why Facts Don’t Change Our Minds explains that it is our inherent beliefs that drive us not the actual facts quoting the ~Economist J. K. Galbraith “Faced with a choice between changing one’s mind and proving there is no need to do so, almost everyone gets busy with the proof.” We need our fixed beliefs to establish our social connections – “We don’t always believe things because they are correct. Sometimes we believe things because they make us look good to the people we care about.”
So how as professional people can we be sure we have the facts right and have arrived at the best answer we can? I suggest one technique is to keep questioning and seeking out all the facts from different sources to support reaching the best possible conclusion. I worked for a lawyer once who asked me to find out about a particular situation which I did and reported back to him. He then held a meeting with our internal client and to my surprise ignored the information I had provided and questioned the client from first principles. This both verified some of what I had been told, and suggested some of it was wrong. We were then, armed with this fuller information, better able to make a legal judgement.
Nowadays we also have multiple sources we can check before arriving at an opinion or decision. I participated with some colleagues this week in a pro bono project with the law firm Baker & McKenzie where we had to find out in a “Justice in Action legal sprint” lasting an afternoon how a young person obtained an ID card – in Greece! Well not surprisingly we had no information about this at all as English professionals. However, what we did was use AI (ChatGPT and Bing) and Google searches to provide us with some general information which got us in the right ballpark – asking for sources where they existed. We then verified this information against various Greek government sites (using Google to translate into English) and came up with some reasonable answers from informed sources. They were not perfect but at least a good starting point.
For a concluding article I like this Forbes blog How Changing Your Thinking Can Change Your Life which says “By changing the way you think, you start to see changes in your attitude and behavior, which leads to a more fulfilling life overall.” Saying “Your thoughts are incredibly powerful. They have the ability to affect your mood, behavior and overall outlook on life. Yet they also have the power to overrule it.” and advising “When you're trying to solve a problem, it's important to take a step back and look at the big picture. By taking the time to assess the situation, you'll be able to come up with a plan of action that will help you tackle the problems and work toward achieving your goals.
It's also important to be flexible in your thinking. Don't get too attached to any one problem. Be open to trying new things and adjusting your solutions as needed. Every problem has multiple solutions. The more flexible you are, the easier it will be to find a solution that works for you.”
As Leo Tolstoy said: “The most difficult subjects can be explained to the most slow-witted man if he has not formed any idea of them already; but the simplest thing cannot be made clear to the most intelligent man if he is firmly persuaded that he knows already, without a shadow of doubt, what is laid before him.”
While the psychologist and author Edward de Bono observed “If you never change your mind, why have one?”
And Albert Einstein suggested “The measure of intelligence is the ability to change.”
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