As it happened, my grandpa only played one match for them before injury put paid to his rugby career. That was in 1921, but he wore this affiliation like a badge of honor right up until his death at the age of 99.  

The All Blacks were revered a hundred years ago, and they still are. This makes them a perfect case study for Professor Alex Hill, co-founder and director of the Centre for High Performance, a collaboration between Kingston University London, Duke University, London Business School, and the University of Oxford. 

Building Centennial Organizations

For more than a decade, he’s researched organizations that have outperformed their peers for over 100 years. In addition to the New Zealand All Blacks, he’s studied NASA, Eton College and the Royal Shakespeare Company, among other household names. 

Hill has identified 12 habits they share, looking at how they analyze success and failure, recruit great talent, and create new products and ideas. He lays these out in his new book, “Centennials,” and offers advice for others who aspire to such longevity today. 

In this clip from our Expert Interview, Hill reflects on how corporate behavior can embed itself from generation to generation. (You can stream the audio clip below or read a transcript here.)

The How and Why of Centennial Organizations

Hill acknowledges that not all organizations are in it for the long haul. Some don’t want to last 100 years, so for them, a focus on short-term returns is appropriate. 

“A lot of management thinking comes from business, and actually those principles and ideas are great if you want to burn bright, but then disappear,” he says. “But if you don’t want to do that and you want to build something that’s going to last, then you have to think in a very different way.” 

And this is a worthy goal, he believes, as “centennial” organizations deliver benefits for communities and society as a whole, as well as for themselves. 

“They help us solve bigger, more complex questions, things like climate change or poverty or health or education, where actually you’re building a collective knowledge in an institution that is growing over time. And you’re solving a problem which can’t just be solved quickly, where actually it might take many decades or many generations to actually work out how to fix it,” he explains. 

The 12 habits in Hill’s book provide a framework for organizations with such ambitions. The first six help to build a stable core, identifying a strong purpose for the work, developing stewardship, and fostering an open attitude toward the world. The last six focus on what he calls the “disruptive edge.” These habits encourage new ideas that propel organizations forward. 

The Power of Performing in Public

I was particularly struck by habit five, “perform in public,” about harnessing the power of strangers. Within an organization, it’s hard to see what you’re doing well – or not so well. Whereas, if you perform to a trusted stranger, you can learn a lot from their feedback, which may include fresh ideas from the outside, too. And of course, when we’re being watched, we almost always raise our game. 

“They’ve done lots of different studies around this, [and] they found that if you have a stranger present in a group, the group feels that they need to perform better,” says Hill. “So they will often be more rigorous in their discussion or their debates, they will explain things more clearly, they make [fewer] mistakes, and they often perform at a higher level because of that.”  

As a freelance producer, I’ve seen this firsthand. Often, I’m the stranger, going into organizations to record a podcast or interview employees. In these situations, I’ve noticed that people do tend to make an effort to act as professionally as they can. 

A few years ago, I produced a series of educational podcasts for a U.K.-based university. Each episode consisted of a roundtable discussion between academics teaching on a particular degree course. As soon as the microphones were set up, all the participants switched into “performance” mode. 

They listened attentively to one another, articulated their views with clarity and verve, and sometimes asked to redo something if they felt it could have been expressed better. If I hadn’t been there, the discussion may have been a bit more relaxed. But it might not have been as useful for the audience of students. 

Outside Observation Brings Centennial Results

Hill says he’s seen performance work in all sorts of situations. 

“You start to realize that every high-performing organization has a performance, and sometimes it happens very naturally, like an Olympic Games or a World Cup or a moon landing – this moment where they have to really perform,” he says.  

“But other organizations where it doesn’t happen naturally will artificially create it. So, like the Royal College of Art has open studios, where strangers can walk through, or they’ll get students to do shows where people can come.” 

It’s an effective way for organizations to practice the mindset they need to last for 100 years. 

The post The Centennial Mindset: My Expert Interview With Alex Hill appeared first on Mind Tools.

Do you arrive at a straightforward answer, or is it tricky to come to a clear view?

I confess, I have been pondering this for some time and have come to the conclusion that assigning the responsibility of strategy is more complex than I first thought. I started by considering what strategic leadership involves.

What Is Strategic Leadership?

A strategic leader is an individual within an organization who possesses the vision, foresight, and capability to guide the organization toward its long-term goals. This type of leader not only focuses on the day-to-day operations, but also on the larger picture and future direction of the organization. They're responsible for shaping and implementing strategies that help the organization to adapt to change and to excel in a dynamic and competitive business environment.

If that wasn't enough, strategic leaders need a clear vision of where they want the organization to be in the future. They must anticipate market trends, technological advancements, and other relevant changes, enabling them to prepare the organization for the future. Effective strategic thinkers conduct thorough risk assessments, and then focus on long-term planning and are able to set realistic and achievable goals that align with the organization's mission and vision. However, these plans can’t be set in stone: strategic leaders are open to change and can adjust strategies and plans to respond to evolving circumstances, whether within the organization or in the external environment.

Considering all that’s involved with being a strategic leader, it is clear that they play a crucial role in setting direction, inspiring teams, and ensuring the organization remains relevant and competitive in a rapidly changing business environment.

Strategy as a Collaborative Journey

These days, good strategic leaders take people on a journey rather than telling them where to go. It's about fostering a shared understanding of an organization's vision and purpose. Leaders must communicate the "why" behind strategic decisions, making it easier for team members to align their efforts.

In today's fast-paced and ever-changing business landscape, the concept of "being strategic" has arguably gone through a bit of a make-over. The global pandemic forced organizations to re-evaluate their strategies, and as we emerge from this crisis, the question arises: whose job is strategy now?

Pre-Pandemic vs. Today: the Evolution of Strategy

Before the pandemic, many of us would have experienced strategy largely at the hands of top-level executives and managers. They would craft long-term plans and communicate them down the hierarchy. However, today's dynamic environment demands a more inclusive approach. Strategic leadership is no longer a top-down process but a collective effort involving individuals at all levels.

Empowered Team Members

To make strategy a collective effort, team members need to provide their input. They are the ones on the front lines, interacting with customers and experiencing market shifts first-hand. Their insights can be invaluable in shaping and refining strategies. To achieve this collective effort, creating an environment where ideas are welcomed and valued is absolutely crucial.

Influencing Strategy Without Being a Leader

Not everyone holds a formal leadership position, but everyone can influence strategy. Regardless of your role, you can contribute by staying informed and interested in where the company is heading, being proactive in problem-solving, and sharing your insights. Take the initiative to propose innovative solutions and collaborate with colleagues to implement them. Your contributions can make a significant impact on shaping the organization's direction.

So, Whose Job Is Strategy?

My conclusion is that strategy works best when it’s a shared responsibility. No longer confined to the boardroom, strategy happens at every level of the organization. It shouldn’t happen to you; it should happen with you. By empowering team members to provide input and encouraging a collaborative approach to strategy, organizations can adapt more effectively to the ever-changing challenges of our times. Whether you hold a leadership position or not, you have the power to influence and shape the strategic direction of your organization. Embrace this opportunity, and together, we can navigate the complexities of the post-pandemic world.

Strategy Resources

You may like to take a look at the following Mind Tools resources, then join the coaches’ events to share your thoughts, ask questions and learn more.

The Line Manager's Role in Strategy Video
What Is Strategy?
Strategic Leadership, With John Adair
Creating Successful Strategic Plans
Creating a Culture of Collaboration Infographic

About the Author:

Sarah is an experienced and qualified leadership, culture and conflict coach. An author, skilled trainer, facilitator, manager mentor, and workplace mediator, Sarah has over 30 years’ experience to draw on. Following a career as an HR leader and consultant, she now loves coaching leaders and teams to improve their results through developing better workplace relationships and creating savvy conversational cultures. Away from work, Sarah can be found in her garden or perhaps writing her next book.

The post Whose Job Is Strategy? appeared first on Mind Tools.

I was reminded of this recently during a parents' evening at my children's school. Both of them – I'm pleased to say – are bright, happy kids. But a discussion about other kids who compete with each other to be "the best" brought that quote to mind.

What exactly did "being the best" mean, I wondered. It sounds noble enough, but did I want my children to join in? And thinking of that old quote, why might "being unique" trump "being the best?"

I thought about it some more and remembered what my dad used to say when I was a kid. "Just try your hardest," he would tell me. "I don't mind if you're not the best; just try hard and be yourself." Nobody's word carried more weight than my father's did back then. And if being myself was more important to him than being the best, then I was ready to listen.

Racing to the Bottom Is Not Unique

I realized that the tussle at school to become numero uno was probably destructive and self-defeating. OK, so whoever emerged on top might have their podium moment, but at what cost? How many playground friendships might unravel? How many tender souls might end up nursing battered egos?

Instead of being, as at first it appeared to be, a competition to reach the top, these schoolyard shenanigans were actually a race to the bottom. Kids were competing by matching each other's moves – copying notes, drawings, language, and even looks.

Any time someone arrived with a new hairstyle, the latest sneakers, or a fancy pencil case, their classmates would imitate them to gain an advantage. This most innocent of environments was becoming a dog-eat-dog world. Kids were competing to be the best by being the same.

Michael Porter in Pictures

All this was fresh in my mind when I read the excellent "What Is Strategy? An Illustrated Guide to Michael Porter," by Joan Magretta and Emile Holmewood.

It's a graphic novel – essentially, a short book in which text, illustrations, speech bubbles, and commentary panels interplay in a kind of storyboard format. And at first glance it does seems like an awkward marriage of business and children's publishing.

The book's theme and cartoon animals seem unlikely bedfellows. But it's actually a fantastically accessible introduction to the fundamentals of strategy.

Read on, and you'll pick up takeaways from the mind of world-renowned strategist, Michael Porter, famous for his Five Forces Model. One such takeaway is the importance of adopting the right mindset. This sounds a little woolly but it's a foundation for the more theoretical stuff that comes later.

Think of the outlook that your favorite team carries onto the field with them. Whatever the sport, players set out to be "the best." They have to, it's the only way to win.

Compare that to your favorite musician, dancer, or comedian. People in the performing arts don't reach the top of the tree by crushing the opposition. They do it by being creative, by developing unique identities and approaches to what they do.

No two bands sound exactly alike (even the dodgy tribute acts) and no two singers have the same voice. Each actor, each circus performer, each magician can develop an audience and successfully create unique value for their customers. This generates a self-sustaining, flourishing field in which everyone can win.

Best vs. Unique

The sports analogy reflects what goes on in my kids' school – the trap of competing to "be the best." It might work on the soccer pitch but it doesn't work in the classroom, and it doesn't work in business either.

It's the second approach – the creative, "performing arts" mindset – that pays dividends, both at school and in the world of work.

Not adopting it means making what Porter calls "the worst error in strategy" – that is, competing with your rivals within the same dimensions.

Playing by Your Own Rules

I'm happy to say that my kids stand slightly apart from these playground tussles. They're part of the crowd but don't jockey for position within it, and they're confident enough in themselves to play by their own rules.

That both my kids are as stubbornly independent as they are sometimes drives me to distraction. But it also makes me very proud.

Every so often, they tell me about a classmate who leaves the competitive mêlée to sidle up to them when there's work to be done. All will get on and do what they each want to do and resist the urge to instigate an imitation game or a bout of one-upmanship. Maybe they're learning that there's a better way. Maybe the right mindset is spreading.

Download Our "What Is Strategy?" Book Insight

We review the best new business books and the tested classics in our monthly Book Insights, available as text or as 15-minute audio downloads.

So, if you're a Mind Tools Premium Club member or corporate user, download or stream the "What Is Strategy?" Book Insight review now.

If you haven't already signed up, join the Mind Tools Club and gain access to our 2,400+ resources, including 390+ Book Insights. For corporate licencing, ask for a demo with one of our team.

What's your strategy mindset? Join the discussion below and let us know!

The post What Would Michael Porter Say – Be the Best or Be Unique? appeared first on Mind Tools.

That approach didn't work.

"It would take me an hour just to read one page in a book with a magnifying glass, with eye fatigue," she recalls, in my Expert Interview podcast. "Actually, at one point, I started thinking I was stupid, like, 'What's wrong with me? I can't keep up in class'."

Then Cox had a revelation – she could get the information she wanted in other ways. She didn't have to see it... she could feel it or hear it instead. The problem wasn't her lack of vision. It was people's attitude toward it. Mindset made all the difference.

"When that changed for me, it really opened up my life," she says.

Are You "Decorating the Fish" Instead of Fixing the Problem?

This insight has impacted her distinguished career as a top public official, and it's one of the many useful lessons in her book, "Stop Decorating The Fish: Which Solutions to Ignore and Which Problems Really Matter," co-written with the entrepreneur and economist, Yishai Ashlag.

What Are the Seductive Seven Solutions?

Like the townsfolk in the book, and Cox's helpers in college, many of us assume our problems are caused by a lack of something.

We might think we need more technology, for example, more data, a new strategy, or more training and communication. Perhaps a reorganization would do the trick, or do we just need to blame someone for the problem? Or maybe we should throw more money at it, to make it go away.

Cox calls these perceived solutions the "Seductive Seven," because they can be dangerously distracting.

Haunted by Phantom Problems

It reminds me of a job I had at a start-up, years ago. The company failed after a few years, but not before ripping through many of the Seductive Seven.

The company produced multimedia cross-cultural training tools, designed for people living and working abroad. When the initial venture capital ran out, it needed to generate revenue, but no one was buying the product.

The owners upgraded the computers and software, to streamline and accelerate workflow. That didn't boost sales. So they developed a new strategy, which involved switching the focus from corporate clients to consumers. That didn't work either.

Then came the inevitable "blame game." If a product isn't selling, it must be the marketing team's fault. A couple of people were fired and replaced. Again, nothing changed.

The final push was a new influx of capital from a trusting investor, which carried the company through to its collapse a few months later.

All that remedial action made the owners feel like they were tackling the problem. The truth is they weren't even addressing it, because they hadn't figured out what it really was.

Finding the Real Problem: The Customer's Always Right!

"So many of the Seductive Seven are great for management. We can feel successful launching a new initiative or a new strategic plan," Cox observes. "The hardest thing to get in leadership or management, or even in our own lives, is clarity. What is the problem we're trying to solve?"

To identify this in any given situation, we need to adopt the end user's perspective.

"It sounds so simple, but know your goal for your customer... and this is true in product design, it's true for R&D, it's true for value," Cox says.

"You see some of the biggest companies over time losing profit share [because] they started focusing on what they're going to get, not what they're going to give. And I think that's where we can all lose our way."

More Isn't Always Better

If my former employers had focused on the customer experience, the company might still be around today. The product was of high quality and looked great, but the delivery method was awkward. This made it hard for people to access the content. That's why the product didn't sell.

Sometimes, one of the Seductive Seven may indeed be part of the solution. Technology might have helped my former company create a better user interface, for example. But often, we don't lack anything. We just need to take a fresh look at what we already have.

Listen to My Interview With Kristen Cox

Discover fascinating insights from some of the world's leading business figures with my series of Mind Tools Expert Interviews.

Mind Tools Club Members and Corporate Licensees can listen to my full 30-minute interview with Kristen Cox.

If you're not a Mind Tools member, you can join the Mind Tools Club and gain access to our 2,400+ resources, including 200+ Expert Interviews. For corporate licensing, ask for a demo with one of our team.

The post When You Can't See the Real Problem: My Expert Interview With Kristen Cox appeared first on Mind Tools.

I love puzzles, and I've included lots of them in this blog. They're fun challenges, perfect for sharing, and a great way to test a range of thinking skills. But they also reveal the serious professional benefits that come from learning how to think creatively.

I was reminded of this when I read "The Creative Thinking Handbook," the new book from creativity guru Chris Griffiths. It's sprinkled with puzzles that illustrate the dos and don'ts of problem solving. Griffiths shows what a difference it can make when we develop a robust creative process – as individuals, teams and entire organizations.

Before writing, I spent 10 years as a teacher, and I often used puzzles to stretch my students' thinking. As the kids grappled with intriguing problems, they gained the confidence to take risks, to keep going, and to be creative as part of a team.

Now, after moving back into a business environment, I realize that these skills are more important in the workplace than ever. So try to match wits with me – and, in the process, see how you can start to think better, and achieve more, wherever you work.

Puzzles and Riddles

Let's start with one of my favorites. 

Puzzle 1: If these nine dots were printed on paper, how could you link all nine by drawing just four straight lines – and without taking your pen off the page?

Have a go – it's not as easy as it looks! If you're stuck, see if someone nearby has any ideas. And try to recognize how you tackle this puzzle – because your strategies here should reveal a lot about your approach to problem solving as a whole.

In case you don't crack it, the answer to this and all my other puzzles are at the end of the blog. But try to resist the temptation to look too soon! You've got a lot to gain from stretching your thinking skills and persisting even if your first attempt fails. It's like resistance training for your brain, building strength to tackle the real-life problems that crop up every day. 

Puzzles for Learning

Puzzles get you thinking and learning in new ways. They force you to challenge the idea that there's only one way of doing things, and they train you to explore a range of options. By doing that, you develop a much richer understanding of any situation, and get your "creative juices" flowing.

You also get a taste of metacognition – "thinking about thinking." If you let them, puzzles will give you valuable insights into the way you approach problems. And the more alert you are to what's going on in your brain when you're in puzzle-solving mode, the more you'll gain, and the faster you'll grow.

Your experiences should also help others to unlock their creativity. And by leading creative-thinking teams, you can make your whole organization more exciting, more innovative, and more successful.

Avoid the Thinking Traps

In puzzles, as in life, you often learn more from your mistakes. It's particularly important to notice which styles of thinking help you to find answers, and which get in the way. In fact, many of the best puzzles are designed to tempt you into these thinking "traps."

For example:

Puzzle 2: A horse is tied to a 10-foot rope, so how does it reach the bale of hay 15 feet away? (This question tempts you to make assumptions – which are so often the enemies of creative problem-solving.)

Or this:

Puzzle 3: If a plane crashes exactly on the border between France and Germany, in which country should the survivors be buried? (Many people get this one wrong by overlooking the obvious.)

And this:

Puzzle 4: Bob and Ben were born on the same day, to the same parents, but they aren't twins. How come? (You'll only solve this puzzle if you can take a seemingly impossible situation, and find a new way of looking at it.)

When the time comes to check the answers, notice any thinking traps you fell into. Think about whether you ever make the same mistakes with real-life problems!

Positive Problem-Solving Strategies

As well as avoiding the traps laid by puzzles writers, you also need to have a range of effective thinking strategies if you're going to find the answers.

Puzzles are a great way to build confidence, and strengthen persistence, open-mindedness, and flexibility. As you work out exactly what a question is asking, discard any "red herrings," and try various positive tactics until one works. In that way, you train yourself to take a strategic, energetic, and resilient approach to solving problems. 

Use some more of mine to put yourself to the test.

For each of the following questions, choose a strategy to start with. But, if that doesn't work, find a different plan of attack. See what happens when you ask friends and family for their ideas. And don't give up. Sometimes, like Sherlock Holmes playing his violin, you'll need to go away and do something else to cut loose your creativity and make the breakthrough. 

Puzzle 5: Where in the world does Friday come before Thursday?

Just as tricky is this:

Puzzle 6: Which substance is represented by the letters HIJKLMNO?

This is fiendish:

Puzzle 7: 3, 3, 5, 4, 4, 3, 5, 5, ? What's next in this numeric code – and why?

Puzzles With Words

Our brains work through connections, and puzzles strengthen our ability to make links, see patterns, and piece things together. They also provide a rich opportunity to collaborate with other people.

Word problems are particularly good for this. When you work on a cryptic crossword with a friend, for example, you have the opportunity to explore someone else's understanding of the possibilities of language.

You find yourself looking at words and phrases in a new light, making new connections, and exploring seemingly meaningless clues from different angles. Until, suddenly, something clicks.

Here are three to try now, on your own – or, even better, in collaboration with someone sitting nearby!

Puzzle 8: Mode of transport crashed in Nepal (5) (Clue: "crashed" means that there's an anagram here.)

Puzzle 9: Singer in tunnel visit (5) (Clue: the singer's name is in "tunnel visit.")

Puzzle 10: Moscow funding? (7) (Clue: it's a word that could define "Moscow" AND "funding.")

Puzzles Boost Profits!

In education, training, and in the world of work generally, I've seen the way that puzzles can inspire a curious, playful attitude. And it spreads. It can change the way any kind of organization works for the better.

As Griffiths shows in his book, creative companies are some of the most enjoyable to work in – and among the most successful in the long term.

One reason for this is that playing around with puzzles gets you used to making mistakes. Good puzzle-solving involves free thinking and gathering a range of ideas from the whole team.

But it also requires staying focused on the question, and making sure that your solution answers it well.

Train Your Creative Brain

These days, there's no shortage of puzzles to challenge yourself with, in books, magazines and online. So take every chance you get to put your brain to work, and to share the fun with others.

Most importantly, see what happens when you put your problem-solving skills to use. You'll likely have a different outlook on real-world problems, because you'll have a range of powerful ways to solve them.

And here's one more puzzle from me to keep you practicing this creative – but concerted – approach. Why not share it with your colleagues? One person might solve it, or maybe you'll get there together.

Puzzle 11: You've put a coin inside an empty wine bottle and sealed it with a cork. How can you remove the coin without pulling the cork out of the bottle, and without damaging the bottle or the cork?

Get the Answers – by Opening Your Mind!

As "Creative Thinking Handbook" author Chris Griffiths puts it, creative thinking is about much more than "thinking outside of the box." It's about getting rid of the box altogether! And that's why I chose the puzzle at the start of this blog – because you won't solve it by staying within the confines of the grid itself.

You need to stretch some of your lines beyond its boundaries, and move into the white space outside.

When you're ready, there's a diagram below to explain the full, surprisingly simple (though sneaky!) solution.

Puzzles in a New Light

It's a great feeling when you solve a puzzle like this. But the best puzzles should keep you entertained and intrigued while you're still wrestling with them, allowing you to enjoy the process of training your creative brain.

So, see how well you get on with the ones I've set here – maybe with "The Creative Thinking Handbook" by your side! Share them to challenge your friends. And see if you notice a difference when you put your new, confident problem-solving strategies into action at work. 

"The Creative Thinking Handbook: Your Step-by-Step Guide to Problem Solving in Business," by Chris Griffiths with Melina Costi, is published by Kogan Page.

If you're a Mind Tools Club member, you can listen to our Book Insight review.

Answers to the Puzzles

1.

2. The other end of the rope isn't tied to anything.

3. Survivors don't need to be buried anywhere.

4. They're two of a set of triplets.

5. In a dictionary.

6. Water: "H to O"! (H₂O)

7. 4 (As the question says, it's a "numeric" code, but it's based on the number of letters in each number word: one (3 letters), two (3), three (5), and so on. So the next number is nine, which has four letters in it.)

8. plane

9. Elvis

10. capital

11. Push the cork into the bottle.

About the Author

Jonathan was World Memory Champion and has written extensively about learning. He also spent 15 years as a BBC Radio presenter, followed by a decade as a teacher and school leader. Jonathan writes many different Mind Tools resources, as well as presenting videos and podcasts. He’s particularly proud of his articles about tackling discrimination, embracing neurodiversity, and supporting working parents. Jonathan enjoys running, crosswords, and traveling with his family. His top advice is to keep reflecting on how you feel about your work. “Life’s too short to be unhappy. If something’s not right – change it!”

The post If You Can Solve These Puzzles, You'll Have a Head Start at Work! appeared first on Mind Tools.

The content was broad and deep, and included societal attitudes as well as practical tips like how to greet people and what to give as a gift.

This was a dot-com start-up, and the team leader, a New Zealander in his late 30s, had free rein to put together his dream team of writers. The result was a motley crew of six, including him. We represented a wide range of ages, nationalities, ethnicities, religions, sexual orientations, and social classes.

The way we looked and spoke was a constant reminder of our diverse identities. But what we said revealed a different, arguably more powerful, kind of variance: cognitive diversity. We all thought differently.

Diversity Delivers

In his book, “The Diversity Bonus: How Great Teams Pay Off in the Knowledge Economy,” Scott E. Page argues that having a varied workforce can bring benefits far beyond that warm fuzzy feeling you get from doing the right thing.

A professor at the University of Michigan, he’s seen diversity deliver numerous bonuses in organizations of all shapes and sizes. From better problem solving and improved innovation to, ultimately, an increased bottom line.

His position is supported by Alison Reynolds and David Lewis in the Harvard Business Review, where they contend that more cognitively diverse teams solve problems faster.

Page's book explores two types of diversity in the workplace: identity and cognitive. He focuses more on the latter as it’s less well known and packs more of a punch.

Cognitive diversity can be influenced by identity diversity, but it can also have nothing to do with it. Page attributes cognitive diversity to our personal “cognitive repertoire.”

Five Steps to Better Outcomes

It’s a fancy term that, for him, encompasses five components: information, knowledge, heuristics, representations, and mental models or frameworks.

“Information” is facts you know about the world, for example the height of Mount Everest. “Knowledge” refers to your practical understanding of a concept or topic: this might be the best and safest way to climb Everest.

“Heuristics” are the tools, models or strategies you use to solve a problem or generate new ideas. You derive these strategies from previous experiences with similar problems; they include things like trial and error and the rule of thumb.

“Representations” are the way you see and categorize things, while “mental models” simplify complex ideas. Sometimes these are assumptions, like assuming the stock market will fall or rise in response to a particular news event. The most useful mental models “align with facts,” Page says.

Naturally, the more repertoires you can draw on to make decisions, design products, or solve problems, the more options emerge. And, in theory at least, the better the outcomes will be: cognitive diversity = bonus.

Insight Informs Product and Process

Let’s return to dot-com-era New York. Five of us are sitting in a darkened room on 52^nd Street in Manhattan. We’re focused on some text projected on the wall, a work in progress that we’re finessing together.

Our identity diversity is apparent in how we look and dress. But what of our cognitive diversity? One team member is a journalist, another a book editor, and two are academics. The fifth is a web coder and the sixth a former branding consultant.

We’re all graduates and between us we’ve notched up nearly 100 years of professional experience in close to a dozen countries. For the creative work we’re doing, that range of knowledge and experience improves our output.

We can tap into one another’s cognitive repertoires, probing for insight that informs not just the content we’re producing, but also our process.

Better Together

We get quicker, more efficient, more accurate. And importantly, we all feel like we’re making a difference, because we all are. This conjures up that elusive ingredient that can transform any endeavor: intrinsic motivation.

Page’s book gives a great overview of diversity in the modern workplace and is packed with research and data, as well as tips. For instance, he stresses that diversity for diversity’s sake is a waste of time. It can even be detrimental, especially for simple, routine tasks.

If you’re trying to maximize productivity on an assembly line, for instance, focus on hiring the fastest and most competent workers. It really doesn’t matter how diverse they are, Page argues.

More complex, knowledge-based work is where diversity comes into its own, and cognitive diversity, in particular, can deliver rich rewards.

Download the “Diversity Bonus” Book Insight

We review the best new business books and the tested classics in our monthly Book Insights, available in text or as 15-minute audio downloads.

So, if you’re a Mind Tools premium club member or corporate user, download or stream “The Diversity Bonus” Book Insight now.

Or, if you’re not already signed up, join the Mind Tools Club and gain access to our 2,400+ resources, including 390+ Book Insights. For corporate membership, book a demo with one of our team.

What are your experiences of cognitive diversity at work? Share your experiences in the Comments section, below.

The post Diversity of Thought Matters, Too appeared first on Mind Tools.

Being safe at work isn't confined to steel boots and safety helmets these days. How people feel is every bit as vital.

And organizations that create environments in which people feel "psychologically safe" will reap the rewards.

It's common sense that happier staff are more engaged, more productive – and stay longer. The evidence is all there.

Psychological Safety

Harvard Business School professor Dr Amy Edmondson coined the phrase "psychologically safe." (Look out for our exclusive Expert Interview with her later this year.) She defined it as, "a shared belief that the team is safe for interpersonal risk taking."

Put another way, safe workplaces are respectful, meaning that people are not afraid to voice their ideas or opinions.

Google's two-year study on team performance came up with the same results. It found that the highest-performing teams have one thing in common: psychological safety. Their members don't live in fear of punishment if they make a mistake.

Other recent studies confirm that moderate risk taking, speaking your mind, and "sticking your neck out" without fear of having it cut off, are just the types of behavior that lead to a competitive edge.

Top Tips for a "Safe" Environment

So, how do you help your colleagues to feel OK?

For @TheGoldPower1, it's a question that can be answered in a three-word tweet: "Start with RESPECT :)"

After that, life coach @ot_sheffield said that safety comes from "... encouraging ideas and being supportive, without taking away a colleague's sense of responsibility and feeling of self-worth."

Rafael Cortés Acostan summed it up like this: "Confidence, communication, open doors policies and clear expectations."

For flight attendant Rosane Duarte, it's important to think about passenger safety, but also about the safety of her colleagues. And she insists that helping everyone to feel safe is a collective responsibility.

She said, "By working as a team, together and not as individuals, we may have the opportunity to feel what colleagues are feeling, identify the fears and find solutions together."

One young manager in U.K. tech development is rooting his strategy in just such an approach.

He said, "The question is how do you give the team what they need to be able to succeed? A big part of that is to do with psychological safety in the workplace. That means focusing on creating an atmosphere where people can make mistakes and be able to treat them as learning experiences. Somewhere you won't just be told, 'You’ve done wrong.'

"What I say to my team is, the only time you really mess up is when you make a mistake and don't learn from it."

Safety by Democracy

He added, "It's quite a democratic approach. We vote on things. If we are changing systems or processes, we make a proposal and say, is everybody happy with that?

"If there is a 'no,' then it's discussed by the group. Giving people confidence to contribute can help refine a new approach. And if you've had a say, you're more engaged."

On Facebook, Connie Campbell Braly laid out her approach for helping people feel psychologically safe at work. She said, "I encourage them and reinforce the contributions they make as a team member."

Martina McGowan, MD, Chief Medical Officer at Heart City Health Center, Inc., told us on LinkedIn, "Listen first. Find out what the issue is, by their definition, not ours. Most people already know, or have within them, their preferred/desired solution/outcome to a situation, but have no one to share their ideas with."

On the same platform, HR & Coaching Professional Nicola McCall said, "I will ask if a colleague needs anything if I am aware there is a difficult situation happening. I listen to colleagues when they need to sound off or cry. I will ask questions about what they want to do next and how they can resolve the issue."

Thank you to everyone who shared their experiences and ideas.

Leaders Eat Last

A final thought from organizational and leadership guru Simon Sinek. In his bestseller, "Leaders Eat Last," he declares, "Only when we feel we are in a Circle of Safety will we pull together as a unified team, better able to survive and thrive regardless of the conditions outside."

(Premium Club members and Corporate users can find out more about Simon Sinek by reading our book insight on "Leaders Eat Last.")

The post Safety at Work - How Do You Help Your Team to Feel OK? appeared first on Mind Tools.

We might remember some of these products with fondness. Others we might be glad to see the back of.

I, for one, recall the long and painful hours that I spent carefully trying to wind the cassette tape back into its case using a pencil or a fingertip, in the vain hope that I could save my favorite recording from ruin. And there was that time when I left my precious Discman on the back seat of the car on a very hot summer day. I returned to find a melted pile of plastic in its place (that was a bad day!).

Is the End Really the End?

For many products that reach the final phase of their product life cycle, the end means the end. After all, these products went away for a good reason, did they not? We're now blessed with all manner of modern technology, and no longer have to worry about tape being ruined, or music players melting!

But for some products, there's an unlikely second wave of demand.

Instant film cameras, for example, have made a comeback recently. Many such products were discontinued in the early 2000s, as digital cameras and smartphones took hold.

But, in 2015, Amazon revealed that the best-selling item in its camera category was Fujifilm’s Instax Mini Instant Film Pack. In April 2016, The Wall Street Journal reported that the Instax camera was selling in record numbers, far outpacing the company’s digital products. Around five million units were sold.

Physical Vs. Digital Media

The reason? Well, for all the wonderful advantages that digital photography offers, it just isn't the same as physical photos.

Physical photos! Remember them? You'd take your film down to your local photographic store to be developed. And wait for hours or even days while they were being processed and printed. Perhaps you'd store them away lovingly in your photo album. Or even, if there was a really good one, frame it and put it up on the wall.

Nowadays, we just don't bother. We have hundreds, if not thousands, of photos and videos stored on our phones. But do we ever actually take the time to look at them?

The Polaroid was a groundbreaking innovation in its day because it delighted consumers: we got the instant gratification of seeing the photo that we'd just taken. Arguably the same can be said of digital snaps. But you can't hold a digital photo. It's instantly forgotten. Stored away in the mysterious dimension that is "the cloud," possibly never to be seen again.

Vinyl Records: A Retro Success

One of the biggest success stories of the past few years has been vinyl records. In fact, in 2016, vinyl reached a 25-year high, with spending on vinyl outstripping the amount spent on digital downloads.

As a child of the '80s myself, I remember being fascinated by my parents' record player. Mostly because I was always being told to stay away from it in case I scratched one of Dad's precious albums. So, instead, I'd watch him as he ever so carefully slipped the record out of its case, before placing it on the turntable and gently lowering the needle. And then, away he'd go, "dad-dancing" around the room to Led Zep, Status Quo, "Ziggy Stardust," while I watched, embarrassed for him, despite no one being around.

But soon enough the record player disappeared. And in its place arrived a much smaller CD player, which, although very shiny, just didn't seem to have the same "gravitas" as the record player. But, we were assured by the salesman, it was much more modern and thus much better!

Nowadays, we don't even need a CD player! What's the point when you have all music ever recorded at your fingertips, wherever you are, thanks to online streaming?

Younger Consumers Fuel Growth

The interesting thing is, it's not just older consumers or nostalgia for the past that's behind vinyl's recent resurgence. In fact, younger consumers are fueling the growth, too.

As Vanessa Higgens, CEO of Regent Street and Gold Bar Records, suggests, "People think millennials just stream and are just digital, but actually I think we are going to see increasingly over this coming year that young people still want something tangible and real, and that's where vinyl is taking on the role that the CD used to have."

So, while we might use Spotify to discover new music, we are turning to vinyl (over other physical music formats) when we like something so much that we want to own and keep it.

Moving Beyond the Product Life Cycle

So, how have these products managed to escape the "death" predicted by the product life cycle? After all, they've been through the four main phases: Introduction, Growth, Maturity, and Decline. Surely they should be dead and buried? And we should be embracing bigger, better, newer, and more modern things?

Or should we? According to www.driveyoursuccess.com, some companies that have "kept their hand in," so to speak, even after a product has declined, can move beyond the product life cycle, to a new phase of "growth and rebirth."

Although rare, it can happen – as we've seen with vinyl and instant film cameras.

In this fifth stage of the product life cycle, most competitors have left the market, believing it to be completely dead. However, if there is still demand out there, the companies that have stayed the course can reap the rewards of having no competition if and when a resurgence does occur. A risky business, no doubt, but one that can have a significant payoff.

What's Next?

So, what's next on the horizon for retro-tech? What products did you love when you were younger, and now want to see make a comeback? Let us know in the comments section below...

The post The End of the Product Life Cycle: Is There Life After Death? appeared first on Mind Tools.

The Netflix presentation in question was originally written by CEO Reed Hastings for internal use and then shared online in 2009. It’s called "Freedom and Responsibility," and it’s available on Slideshare.

But why is it so groundbreaking? And is it relevant to other companies in different industries? I decided to find out.

What’s the Netflix Presentation's Core Message?

After reading through the slides, my first impression was that Netflix's presentation is crammed full of surprising and even counter-intuitive ideas about hiring, firing and corporate culture. In short, Hastings reveals Netflix’s secret to long-term business success: find brilliant people, pay them well, and give them the freedom to take responsibility for their own work.

“Responsible people thrive on freedom, and are worthy of freedom.” - Reed Hastings

I thought about this statement and realized that it agreed with my experience of a variety of workplaces. Who hasn’t wanted to leave a job because her employer monitored her every move and didn’t trust her to do her job?

I asked friends and co-workers for their opinions and they agreed: an excessively formal workplace makes some people yearn for creative freedom. If you, too, relish freedom and responsibility, you may be the kind of person that would suit a Netflix-style workplace. But why would any other business follow its example?

Why Does Netflix Promote Employee Freedom?

At first, I couldn’t understand how employee freedom was connected to Netflix’s overall business strategy. Doesn't it introduce waste? It turns out, that's not how Netflix sees it.

Netflix believes that increasing employee freedom creates an environment that is attractive to innovative, high-performing people. It seeks out and rewards people who can do great work in a rule-free environment. But what does that have to do with long-term strategy? Well, here’s what happens to most companies, according to Netflix:

1. Companies become increasingly complex as they grow.
2. They introduce procedures and formal rules in an attempt to prevent errors.
3. The excessive rules and formality drive away the highest performing employees. Companies lose their most creative talent.
4. The remaining employees are able to follow a procedure, but they aren’t “stars.” They’re comfortable in an environment that has rules for everything.
5. The market changes. The current strategy starts to fail. The remaining employees aren't creative enough to take the company in a new direction. The working environment doesn’t promote creativity.
6. The company fails to evolve and slowly slides into irrelevance.

By letting "adequate" employees go, and keeping brilliant people, Netflix ensures that it always has the talent required to adapt and survive. This, it believes, is the route to sustainable success.

How to Replicate Netflix’s Culture

So, according to the Netflix presentation, great people are the secret of the company's strategy. My next question was: how does Netflix identify the kinds of people it wants to keep? And how can other companies adopt the same approach? I did a little more digging and identified five lessons that we can learn from Netflix’s corporate culture:

• Discourage a Culture of Process Adherence

Instead, promote a culture of creativity, self-discipline, freedom, and responsibility. If you have the right people, they'll thrive in this environment. You might assume that dispensing with the rules would result in errors. On the contrary, Netflix found that high performers make very few mistakes.

However, it’s important to consider your industry and its particular needs. In creative fields like content streaming, mistakes can be fixed on the fly and don’t tend to have catastrophic results. If you're in medicine or nuclear power, you may not want to emphasize freedom to the same extent.

• Identify Star Employees

To filter for brilliant people, Netflix has a “Keeper Test.” This requires managers to ask themselves if they would fight to keep an employee if he wanted to leave. If the answer is no, that person is offered a generous severance package and the position is opened up for a potential star replacement. Only the “keepers” remain.

Hastings also claims that in procedural work, the best people are twice as effective as the average worker. However, in creative work, the best performers are 10 times as productive.

• Focus on Great Results, Not the Number of Hours Worked

The Netflix presentation revealed to the world that the company doesn't track employees’ working hours. The reason is that it knows they often have to respond to emails during weekends and evenings. An employee once pointed out that if the company doesn’t track working hours, then it shouldn’t track holidays either. So, Netflix stopped tracking employee holidays, too.

The organization hires people who are driven to go the extra mile, but it trusts them to take time away when they need to, as well. So, leaders set a good example by taking time off, then coming back energized and full of ideas.

• Dispense With Rules Whenever You Can

When it comes to expenses, Netflix has only one rule: “Act in Netflix’s best interests.” It also has no rules regarding dress. Despite this, Hastings points out, no-one comes to work naked. His point is that not everything needs a rule.

If an employee requires constant supervision, or can’t be trusted with responsibility, then she isn’t a good fit for the company. Again, Netflix gives her a generous severance package, thanks her for her service, and lets her find a more suitable fit.

Of course, Netflix understands that this approach has its limits. For example, it has rules to prevent irrevocable disasters, such as financial errors and hacking. It also has strict rules covering dishonesty, harassment and legal issues.

• Attract and Keep Top Talent

Netflix is willing to pay a premium for the best employees it can find. High salaries, Netflix believes, are the most attractive form of compensation.

It doesn’t force employees to take shares, bonuses, deferred payments, or other incentives. The company consolidates all of those expenses into the salary and lets the employee decide how to use it.

Netflix also regularly adjusts employees’ salaries to keep them competitive with the market. It pays at the top of the market range, so its people never need to change employers simply to earn their worth.

So that was what I took away from this eye-opening Netflix presentation. It certainly helped me to see recruitment and strategy in a new way and it raises lots of interesting questions, too. For example, could this approach work for all companies?

Well, the answer to that question will depend on your industry and your leadership style. It requires a high level of trust and a great deal of courage to adopt Netflix’s hiring and firing policies. However, if your organization values creative thinkers, and if errors don’t result in mortal danger or other serious consequences, Netflix’s approach could work for you, too. Perhaps it’s time you started identifying your “keepers”?

The post Is This Netflix Presentation Silicon Valley's Most Important Document? appeared first on Mind Tools.

Sometimes it feels as though you need to be able to predict the future just to keep up with all these new changes. You could go on your gut instinct to guide you, but really this is just guesswork, and you're beginning to think that some of the wisdom you've gained through experience no longer applies to this brave new world.

So who can you rely on for accurate predictions on what the future may bring?

Expert Predictions Versus Laymen Predictions

In 1907, Charles Darwin's cousin, statistician Sir Francis Galton, made an interesting discovery at a county fair. Visitors were asked to guess the weight of an ox. Very few guesses were close, even among cattle experts. However, the average of all the wrong guesses was right on the mark!

A 20-year study at the Wharton School asked both intelligence experts and everyday folks to estimate the likelihood of some global future event such as, "Will there be a significant attack on Israeli territory before May 10, 2014?" Against expectations, the everyday folk's answers turned out to be 30 percent more accurate than the experts'.

Many of you experienced leaders may be offended by my questioning your ability to predict future events. I don't question your knowledge and insights, but simply point out that they don't necessarily translate into accurate future-casting.

The Wharton study, for instance, found that experts spend much of their time with fellow specialists deep inside their field. And while great minds do tend to think alike, spending so much time with similar people can result in groupthink.

Often when problem solving, experts tend to focus on the "knowns" within their field, rather than the external forces at work that are changing it. Their confident knowledge leads to quick decisions. But, if and when they ultimately change their minds, it can be a slow process.

Be Flexible to Avoid Over-Confidence

Changing circumstances can result in cognitive dissonance. Human instinct works to eliminate shades of gray – we come to a decision, we move on.

The Wharton study allowed participants the flexibility to change their predictions of future events over a three-month period. Those with changeable attitudes updated their beliefs more often, and their predictions were found to be far more accurate than those that had fixed beliefs.

Daniel Kahneman, who won a Nobel Prize for his work in behavioral economics, agrees that over-confidence and cognitive bias can lead to errors. He found that much of human error cannot even be put down to a systematic cause. Instead, a lot of errors made by people are simply "… noise, in the sense that it's random, unpredictable [and] cannot be explained."

Individual experts can worryingly become confused and error-prone because of this over-confidence. As Kahneman explains, "You put the same x-ray in front of radiologists and, about 20 percent of the time, in some experiments they don’t reach the same diagnosis."

So, why not have a group of experts settle on a decision, you might ask? Well, there are pitfalls here as well. As he goes on to clarify, when a group of people discuss a case, there is often "huge conformity pressures," which can lead people to underestimate the level of disagreement among them.

Kahneman suggests using algorithms to "temper human judgment," because they are noise-free – something that humans are not. However, although this sounds to me like it could work well for short-term judgments, long-term predictions surely require more thought, and developing algorithms for them would be a challenge.

So... what's the answer?

Polling and the Wisdom of the Crowd

Well, telephone polling is one way to gauge predictions accurately and is used by many organizations to do just that.

Polling is intended to tap into the wisdom of the crowd. However, only a generation ago these polls were found to be far off the mark. This was primarily because phone books omitted cell phone users, which meant that polls ignored much of the younger population.

The science behind poll predictions has, thankfully, improved a lot since then. Polling expert Nate Silver, for instance, whose website FiveThirtyEight.com uses demographic analysis as well as a range of political polls (each of which is weighted on timing and past accuracy), has earned great acclaim in recent years for his ability to accurately predict the future. Although, even he gave Trump less than a 30 percent chance of winning!

If you do decide to rely on a poll, it's important to think about who you want to target. Try using the method that I borrowed from James Surowiecki's book, "The Wisdom of Crowds." Create your very own "wise crowd" by making sure that it fulfills his four criteria:

1.   Each person should have private information because even this diversity is just an eccentric interpretation of the known facts.
2.   Know that people's opinions are independent and not determined by those around them.
3.   Your sample group should be decentralized, with different specialties, and can draw upon local knowledge.
4.   Have a mechanism for aggregating your group's private judgments into a collective decision.

If these points feel too generic, find more practical help developing your own survey by visiting Survey Monkey.

Surveying a full range of people may not always possible (to say nothing of being impractical and time-consuming). If this is the case, the Delphi Method is an excellent way to gain expert advice on future predictions, while reducing the problems described above. Tips and explanations on the Delphi Method are available to Mind Tools Club members but, if you don't have club membership and want to learn more, leave a comment and I'll dive into it in a future blog.

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