Leadership & Beliefs

Believe nothing just because a so-called wise person said it.
Believe nothing just because a belief is generally held.
Believe nothing just because it is said in ancient books.
Believe nothing just because it is said to be of divine origin.
Believe nothing just because someone else believes it.
Believe only what you your self test and judge to be true.

~Buddha - Hindu Prince Gautama Siddharta

As you might imagine I have mixed emotions when I read this particular piece from the Buddha. In some ways, I think or feel at a variety of levels that this may be pretty good advice. However, when I run it back through Argyris’ Model of giving advice, it may not meet all the tests. [ http://www.leaducom/news/archive/05/071505.htm  ]

If you contrast this information with the information from Blink and ‘thin-slicing’, one has to concern him or herself as a leader with how adept anyone is in terms of sense-making. I would suggest that the world may be overly complex, complete with too many choices, too many alternatives and essentially too many different ways things may work to use only our own self-testing and judgment.

In reality, I suspect in many ways that all this self-testing and judging is getting us in a whole lot of trouble we don’t even realize.  25,000 year-old genetics don’t help either. We were made to manage the four Fs: feed, fight, flee and pro-create. And our system manages those aspects pretty darned well in my view, at least until we realize that half the world must have ED, based on all these commercials. Jocularity aside, I believe we need to take another step with belief and that is to test our own beliefs in view of our judgments.

As a leader, the key issue in my view is to test one’s own assumptions about how the world works. In doing so, a number of things are likely to occur, some of which are enumerated by the Buddha’s quote above. Others allow us to function with a high degree of uncertainty and ambiguity and to act imperfectly. To me, perfection is a result of our beliefs, yet imperfection may be necessary to actually meet the complex conditions in most environments in today’s leadership sphere.

It’s not necessary in my view to hold a belief as true, but to test it for efficacy; of course under the restraints of morality, legality and ethics. If we continue to search for the truth, as many do, or perhaps to view truth as what our own system of self-testing reveals, we are more than likely to sub-optimize our relationships. I have this idea, upon which I’ll write more about later, that principles—much as Covey states—as possibly the lynch-pin in efficient, effective and sustainable leadership. And while OUR principles may be incomplete, flawed or sub-optimal, to test them for efficacy and note the effects, while remaining imperfect, may produce greater resilience.

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From the desk of Mike R. Jay, Master Business Coach
Founder, http://www.leadershipuniversity.com 

Comments

[Eric Stern]

One form of "truth" that reaches us and helps build our beliefs is the result of other people's investigations. Some of us tend to believe more those that are based on scientific evidence, usually some form of measurement that can be repeated in time and space and still give the same output.

Systems have been put in place to increase the confidence in these measurements and even to gain some knowledge about the uncertainties involved in the measurements.

I assume therefore that the strength of the beliefs can depend on our experience and the sense we get over time that our beliefs have been confirmed in the past and have served us, giving us a chance to modify those beliefs that need adjustments.

While Buddha's advice may have been very appropriate in his time, now we must find ways of relying on others and, as you say, take on increasing levels or risk.