It is not what you think

It is not what you think

1. define

   • diagnose
     • design
       • decide
         • rational approach turns out to be uncommon.

2. ·

3. Decision making means periods of groping followed by sudden sharp insights that lead to crystallization

4. Often decisions do not so much emerge as erupt.

5. seeing into

   • suggests that decisions, or at least actions, may be driven as much by what is seen as by what is thought.

6. Preparation must come first

7. G. Wallas in the 1920s identifies four steps in creative discovery:

   • preparation → incubation → illumination → verification.

8. “Doing First”

   • enactment → selection → retention.

9. Making Decisions Through Discussion, Collage and Improvisation

10. In order to learn, a company group might tackle a new issue first by craft, which is tied to doing; then, in order to imagine, by art, which is tied to seeing; finally, in order to program, by science, which is tied to thinking.

11. “Thinking first” works best when the issue is clear, the data reliable and the world structured; when thoughts can be pinned down and discipline applied, as in an established production process.

12. “Seeing first” is necessary when many elements have to be combined into creative solutions and when commitment to those solutions is key, as in much new-product development.

13. “Doing first” is preferred when the situation is novel and confusing, and things need to be worked out. That is often the case in a new industry — or in an old industry thrown into turmoil by a new technology.