Recognize the Power and Limits of Mental Models
Our Models Define Our World
The world we see today could undergo a gestalt flip tomorrow. We can get better at this process of making sense—and the first step is recognizing that there is a process at all.
Some will argue that the world is already far too complicated for us to make sense of it. They act as if we need to just keep our heads down,focus on the track in front of our feet and keep moving. That may work for a limited time (until some freight train comes barrelling down the track we’re walking on). But our strength as human beings is our power to make sense, adapt to a fabulously complex world and quickly decide on a practical course of action. This is how we have survived and progressed since the age of the sabertooth tiger. It is how we can succeed in today’s complex world.
In today’s complicated and uncertain environment, the greatest dangers are not from beasts prowling around outside. More often than not they are in our own minds, our inability to see our own limits and to see things differently. It is these internal beasts that we seek to better understand—and learn to live with, if not to tame—in the pages of this book.
- What are your mental models that shape your thinking? How are your models different from those of others?
- What are a few recent decisions, personal or professional, in which you can identify the role of mental models in how you framed the problem or developed your solution?
- How has your own education and experience affected your mental models?
- What are the potential blind spots of your models and experience?
- How can you seek out new perspectives and experience to help challengeor change your current models
