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?”
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And Albert Einstein suggested “The measure of intelligence is the ability to change.”

One of the hardest things to keep doing as a professional is always have an open mind. Once we have applied our experience and working knowledge to a matter and come to a conclusion, having considered all the options, then we naturally want to stick to it. Others may have their view, but it is easy to insist we are right. The more experienced we are the more this is likely to be the case. 

I am however just reading Think Again: The Power of knowing What You Don’t Know by  Adam Grant which advocates having the ability to keep an open mind. He suggests we should be confident in our knowledge and conclusions, but still be prepared to question our conclusions in a scientific manner. “What we want to attain is confident humility: having faith in our ability while appreciating that we may not have the right solution or even be addressing the right problem.”

He cites Jeff Bezos the founder of Amazon: “People who are right listen a lot, and they change their mind a lot. If you don’t change your mind a lot you are going to be wrong a lot”.

And observes shrewdly that “The curse of knowledge is that it closes our minds to what we don’t know”.

The Cambridge dictionary says the meaning of “open mind” is “to wait until you know all the facts before forming an opinion or making a judgement. We should keep an open mind until all the evidence is available.” I suggest we need to go further than this as professionals and continue to question our judgement even after we have reached it as new facts emerge and matters evolve.

See this Forbes article How To Keep An Open Mind which proposes “Perhaps we need the constant reminders to be open minded because it’s such a hard state to sustain. Our brains are constantly instituting shortcuts that cause us to close our minds. Psychologists call humans cognitive misers and have identified various ways that we shut out information in order to process more efficiently” and observes “Further, the more success that we have, the harder it is to be open to new ideas. Research from Loyola University of Chicago has found that those who consider themselves to be experts in their fields are often more closed-minded to alternative viewpoints.”

The research cited says in its abstract “social norms dictate that experts are entitled to adopt a relatively dogmatic, closed-minded orientation. As a consequence, situations that engender self-perceptions of high expertise elicit a more closed-minded cognitive style.” In other words the more of an expert we are the more we have a tendency to being close minded.

I also like this article How to Be Open-Minded and Why It Matters which proposes: “Open-mindedness refers to being receptive to other ideas and new experiences. Close-mindedness involves much more rigid thinking and a refusal to consider other possibilities.”

It advocates taking time: “Giving yourself time to consider information can help you approach it with a more open mind. This often takes more effort, but it can be a great way to learn more about other points of view.”
See also this blog 10 Steps To Become More Open-Minded which says “Open-minded people tend to be good listeners who strive to understand how other people perceive situations. They see differing opinions as valuable and thrive in diverse environments where they can interact with people with unique ideas and backgrounds.” And proposes how we can be more open-minded including: 

• Being aware of biases
• Considering the opposite view
• Asking questions

The last suggests “Open-minded people tend to ask questions rather than offer their own opinions or argue.” 

While this blog 9 smart ways to keep an open mind in the workplace proposes “Being open-minded doesn’t just mean accepting new ideas and tolerating other people, or expressing a certain degree of flexibility. It’s much more than that, and it is expressed through attitudes and actions — it means being receptive to everything and everyone that comes your way, allowing yourself to embrace various possibilities and opportunities, perspectives, suggestions and concerns. It means letting go of prejudice, stubbornness and rigidity.” And then suggests how to achieve this state of mind concluding “exchange ideas regularly with your colleagues or employees; accept respectful criticism without bitterness; appreciate and celebrate other people’s achievements; be flexible toward altering tasks, assignments or schedules; request feedback from within the company, as well as from clients, collaborators and service providers; encourage open-mindedness in others.”

This open minded approach is perhaps best captured as a concept by Carol Dweck in her book Mindset: The New Psychology of Success which suggests “it’s not just our abilities and talent that bring us success–but whether we approach them with a fixed or growth mindset”. See this blog Carol Dweck: A Summary of Growth and Fixed Mindsets for a good summary saying `”If you believe that your qualities are unchangeable — the fixed mindset — you will want to prove yourself correct over and over rather than learning from your mistakes.`’ `it then cites `Carol Dweck on the opposite, growth, mindset:

“There’s another mindset in which these traits are not simply a hand you’re dealt and have to live with, always trying to convince yourself and others that you have a royal flush when you’re secretly worried it’s a pair of tens. In this mindset, the hand you’re dealt is just the starting point for development. This growth mindset is based on the belief that your basic qualities are things you can cultivate through your efforts.”

As George Bernard Shaw says “Those who can’t change their minds can’t change anything.”

While Albert Einstein observed “The measure of intelligence is the ability to change.”
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And the American author Colleen Hoover advises “Keep an open mind; it’s the only way things can get in.”

I play tennis every Saturday and today teamed up with a partner I have played a lot with. We won a club tournament a few years ago. The opposition today were good, and they took an early lead of 3 or 4 games in each set. However, we fought back and won each time. Looking back every time we play together this tends to happen. We lose at first and then claw our way back. What we seem to demonstrate in this sporting context is an attribute I suggest applies equally in the professional world – tenacity and a sense of hanging in there even when things are not going too well. It means “being persistent and determined in difficult circumstances.”

If you have had a bad day or even week at the office or working from home where everything seems to be a problem and little gets resolved, then this attribute becomes critical. Refusing to be beaten or downtrodden means your mindset is right and you are able to deal with the problems you encounter and live to work another day when seemingly impossible matters can be resolved to your advantage.

See this Forbes article Tenacity: The Ultimate Skill When It Really Matters which observes “Many factors contribute to career and organizational success: training or education; depth and breadth of experience; networking, connections, and mentorship. Yet when I ask leaders about their single greatest factor for success, I consistently hear some variation of tenacity
“Hanging in there.”
“Going toe-to-toe.”
“Sticking with it.”
Put simply, tenacity is that fierce blend of determination, persistence and grit.”

I also like this blog Tenacity in Your Professional Life which says “Being able to persevere when the going gets tough and sticking to a project, task, or deadline is one of the most desirable traits of an employee and business owner alike.” It has a good short video on the topic.

While this short blog Growing tenacity at work cites a Georgian proverb  “A person can flower on a rock” and suggests “Firmness of purpose drives perseverance, persistence, and endurance. A clear vision of a preferred future reality engenders discretionary effort and energy invested in important strategic objectives.”  However, it cautions that in a business context the cause or purpose has to be fully grasped and made one’s own. If your attitude is to clock in and clock out, with what happens in between just passing the time, there is little incentive to be tenacious.

Another attribute of hanging in there is perseverance – the sheer bloody mindedness to keep going and overcome obstacles. See this LinkedIn article  Perseverance : A Personality Attribute to Be Successful! Which commences “The most significant aspect among the people who have successful careers is the quality of perseverance. One has to keep their efforts directed toward accomplishing goals if one aspires to be successful. It is also essential for career development. Learning from setbacks and obstacles is a critical trait for successful entrepreneurs.”

An alternative way of describing this characteristic is determination, refusing to lose a critical point in my tennis example and being determined to recover even when the game looks lost. This Harvard Business articleOrganizational Grit sums this up nicely. “Grit, a combination of passion and perseverance, predicts success in many demanding fields. A perfect example is health care, where the grit of individual doctors and nurses has saved many lives. But today providing superior care is so complex that no lone practitioner can do it all. Great care requires gritty teams that never stop striving for improvement and institutions that exhibit grit across entire systems of providers.”  It proposes that this quality does not just apply at an individual level but an organisational one. “If gritty individuals and teams are to thrive, organizations need to develop cultures that make them, in turn, macrocosms of their best teams and people.”

Returning to my tennis analogy there are probably reasons why I and my partner play well together as a team; he is left-handed and I am right and we both don’t like losing and raise our game, adapting our approach as necessary and finding a way to win. I suggest that it is the same in an organisation which should recognise and encourage “hanging in there” and create an environment which rewards hard graft and tenacity as well as talent.

I found some great quotes on this topic you may like.

“Strength does not come from winning. Your struggles develop your strengths. When you go through hardships and decide not to surrender, that is strength.” Arnold Schwarzenegger.

“The longer you hang in there, the greater the chance that something will happen in your favor. No matter how hard it seems, the longer you persist, the more likely your success.”  The American author Jack Canfield.

“When you get into a tight place and everything goes against you, till it seems as though you could not hang on a minute longer, never give up then, for that is just the place and time that the tide will turn.” The American writer Harriet Beecher Stowe.

“In the depth of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer.” The French philosopher and author Albert Camus.
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“When you get to the end of your rope, tie a knot in it and hang on.” Franklin D. Roosevelt.

You work for a professional practice and have your heart set on partnership. But it is not offered even though you think you deserve it and merit promotion because of your hard work and developing client contacts. This is when you need a plan B: join another firm as a partner or where your prospects may be better, or go in-house. If you have already been an in-house professional role your plan B could be to go into management. Whatever it really pays to have a back-up plan even if things seem to be going well. Then at least you are prepared.
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ChatGPT advises (if that is the right word) that “Having a Plan B provides a backup strategy in ca
se your primary plan encounters obstacles or doesn’t work out. It adds resilience and adaptability to your approach, increasing the likelihood of success in uncertain situations.” It is a way of coping with the inevitable challenges and crises that will occur in our professional working lives no matter how good we are at our jobs and despite our best efforts. A plan B or even a plan C as well enables the unexpected to be dealt with and managed.

I spent last week at a small flat we have in the South of France to tidy it and fix things after a season of holiday lets. Everything seemed to be in reasonably good order with nothing I could not fix or replace. Then I came to wash on the first morning to discover there was no hot water whatsoever. I am reasonably good at what the French call bricolage, do it yourself, but I could see nothing obviously wrong and realised this was beyond my capabilities. For a moment I panicked slightly as you can’t let a flat without hot water. Plan A – everything was working – went out the window. Then I calmed down and as plan B called a local handyman who had fixed the electric boiler before. He could come round the next day. As a further back-up, because I thought it was perhaps an electrical fault, and as a plan C I contacted a local electrician who could look at the problem later in the week. Fortunately the handyman was able to fix the hot water and my plan B worked.

See this blog Preparing for Problems: Five Reasons Why You Need a Plan B which says “When it comes to planning, whether it’s for a project, meeting, or proposal – you’re most likely going to spend a lot of time and effort getting Plan A right – this is, after all, what you actually want to be doing – but life does have a tendency to throw roadblocks up, and sometimes Plan A can fall apart – and if you don’t have a back-up ready, you’re going to be left floundering, with time, resources, employees, and budget all at risk whilst you regroup.” Its suggestions include:

• A Backup Plan Can Provide a Safety Net, Allowing More Freedom in Decisions
• Plan A is Often a Predictable Approach, Plan B Can Allow for Innovation
• Considering Different Angles Can Identify Business-Critical Operations

Blackberry founded by Mike Lazardis was incredibly successful at first, but in 2010 failed to recognise the potential of encrypted text messages which later became a huge business for WhatsApp. Then as a business it also failed to grasp the power of a computer in a phone with a touch screen and from 2011 to 2012 began to lose out to Apple and the now ubiquitous iPhone. It would seem that this hugely successful corporation failed to grasp when it was time to move to a Plan B.

This short blog  The Importance of Plan B sums this up nicely observing that “Thomas Edison, inventor of the light bulb, failed over 600 times before he discovered the right combination of materials and designs that worked.” and commenting  “Accepting failure (or a lack of success), enables you to learn and develop a Plan B. Continuing to pursue a doomed plan is the plot line for a tragic life, a frustrated career and business failures. Plan B’s are the plot lines of hero’s and happy endings.” 

There is even a book on the topic Getting to Plan B: Breaking Through to a Better Business Model by John Mullins and Randy Komisar which, in the context of start-ups or a new business in an existing organisation, explains that “new businesses are fraught with uncertainty. To succeed, you must change the plan in real time as the inevitable challenges arise. In fact, studies show that entrepreneurs who stick slavishly to their Plan A stand a greater chance of failing-and that many successful businesses barely resemble their founders' original idea.”

Some argue that a plan B is distracting from your primary plan. See this TED article Why having a Plan B can sometimes backfire which says there is scientific support for the benefits of a Plan B but observes that “Some researchers have recently found that having a fallback, or even thinking through one, might actually make you less motivated to achieve your primary goal and thus end up impeding your performance.”

However, from my experience over a long professional career things don’t always work out and it is far better to be prepared for this. If you provide IT services you should almost always have a backup disaster recovery system. As this Forbes article Why You Should Create a Financial Plan B comments:
“It would be nice if everything in life went according to plan.
You get the job you want and never get fired. You meet the person of your dreams and never break up. Your spouse or parents live forever, or at least until age 100. Plus, you eat right daily, exercise consistently and never get sick or injured.
Sadly, we all know that life simply doesn’t work that way.”

This military blog about fitness Why There's Never a Good Excuse Not to Have a Plan B explains the  approach the armed forces take “In the military, we called these contingency plans. Every phase of the mission had contingencies, and even our contingencies had contingencies. Even the best designed plans can get screwed up. That is life. With regards to your fitness, you need a contingency plan, or Plan B, when life gets in the way.”

This definitely applies in sport – as Serena Williams says “If Plan A isn't working, I have Plan B, Plan C, and even Plan D.”

I also like this quote from the New Zealand rugby player Filo Tiatia “Always have a plan B and C, because if it doesn't work out there are other things you can focus on. It's important to have a balance to your life, regardless of what you're doing. I've been playing at this level for a long time, but I've got interests outside of rugby, like my family and my children. They keep me sane.”
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And the actor Dick Van Dyke sums this all up nicely “In general, things either work out or they don’t, and if they don’t, you figure out something else, a plan B. There’s nothing wrong with plan B.”