Helene Finidori

Yes ! No ! Because!

Cognitive science is increasingly interested in the ability people have to dialog and cooperate. Why can’t people understand each other? Why do we favor status quo instead of moving forward? Most of the time, it is because we think along different lines or patterns, and because beyond our differences in opinions, we have different representations of a same reality. The example below is a good illustration: what would you have seen in the following figure?

To effectively establish a dialog and understand each other, we need to realize that each of us uses a different frame of reference and representation system. We need to try and define a shared frame or representation, or at least try and temporarily adopt the other person’s frame of reference in order to understand the reasoning behind her thinking.

Ideologies and dogma are made to prevent any incursion in a different vision of the world. Prejudice has the same effect: they rigidify the frame and representation system. As a consequence, even the idea of difference or change becomes threatening and has a paralyzing effect.

Several techniques have been developed in organizations to facilitate mutual understanding and cooperative problem solving through a dialog intended to free expression and vent out concerns and fears, and where each one tries by “informing” the other to understand the blocking factors and to overcome them. This process contributes to reduce threats and worries. The half empty glass has a chance to become half full.

One particular example of these techniques: the proscription of questions that can be answered by yes or no. These questions indeed offer the possibility for the one who replies to hide behind a small word without a slight incursion in the reasoning. By the same token, why-questions are prohibited as well, because even when they try to get to the causes, they often generate responses that are mere justifications, fruitless to move a debate forward.

To progress not only in the corporate world but also in our societies and the world as well, I would be favorable to teach dialog as a “civic skill” at school! 

Change or Die

Why is it that even under a death threat, humans can't resolve themselves to change their behaviors? In Fast Company's May issue, Alan Deutschman draws a parallel between health and corporate performance: whatever the perspective or the danger, the core of the solution is seldom to perform an operation -i.e. change the structure, culture or strategy- or to prescribe a medecine -new systems and technology-. Changing behaviors mostly happens by speaking to people's feeling and emotions, not just thoughts, and helping them adopt different frames of thinking. Change agents themselves need to learn how to change their style if necessary to get to the core. On the "change target" side, behavioral change ability, what we commonly call adaptability, is linked to our brain's ability to change, its plasticity. Everything we learn as a child is behavior based and maintains this plasticity. When the leaning stops, the plasticity decreases. This is why, the article says, continuous learning, by constantly rejuvenating the brain's plasticity, is so crucial to adaptability, not only to knowledge -not to mention living older and in a good shape!-.

See full article Change or Die.
Also see a detailed analysis of this article in Creating Passionate Users Blog

The brain fights back!

I really like brain stories. In a previous life, I spent a whole diner sitting next to a Swedish neurobiologist, disciple of Damasio, questioning him about his latest research, while he probably would have loved talking of something else… So when the brain finds itself at the center of recent discussions on management, I am thrilled!

My subject of the day, is the rehabilitation of the right brain in American corporate life partly described in a recent Wired article -Revenge of the right brain- as well as in an increasing number of management publications and books. Because, on this side of the Atlantic, some actually wonder if half our brains haven’t been put to sleep: the brain of emotions, creativity, synthesis, contextualization. The brain of philosophy?

By looking at how tasks have been cut into sequential, reproductive and controllable processes, and how everything seems to be run by the book, one wonders what became of the ability to think and to connect the pieces into a meaningful whole. One starts to fear the effects of a massive and ultimate specialization and taylorization of management, with its tools and methodologies that lead into the wall once a glitch appears or the frame of reference is changed.

Concerns are even greater considering the increasing quality of education in China and India and the increased competitiveness of Asian workforce and corporations. In this context, western corporations can only endure if they develop their ability to create, invent, conceptualize, contextualize, instill some meaning and purpose, manage relationships and multiculturalism… in short, their ability to think, relate, adapt and mobilize, all major features of the 21st century leaders.

The future belongs to the right brain. And western higher education institutions ought certainly to give this some thought! 

Brains and Clusters

Applied to language, dynamic data visualization can become stunning! Here is a Visual Thesaurus that connects words through their meanings. Most interesting is the international version, combining meaning and translations -Click to enlarge. Fascinating in its design and concept! Visual Thesaurus

When will we be able to perform our internet searches, or organize our bookmarks in such an intuitive way?

I've got brains...

Usually, when I start on a project, I spend some time wondering and pondering on how I will design the frame in which it will develop. In the case of this blog for instance? How I will organize my thoughts, articles and categories, and arrange the boxes in which they will be sorted and maybe buried forever... How I will tunnel my way in a hierarchical structure created to reflect how my thoughts and manias are connected to each other... How this hierarchy with all these nice and tidy boxes related by links that never cross each other will sustain the pace of evolution... How I will keep on connecting people, projects, objects, information and ideas ad nutum without getting lost in the process...

Starting from today, my computer has new brains... I found a navigation tool that enables me to organize my ideas in clusters  -Click to enlarge

That's terrific!

It's worth to have a look at: The Brain Technology

This is no innovation. The product has been on the market for 4 years. The layout could be improved. Why didn't it breakthrough? It's hard to create new reflexes...

A similar concepts is also proposed by Thinkmap.

Some people can't understand how I can work so "illogically". How I can "circle around" projects and ideas, pull so many threads at the same time, make so many steps in various directions, and then manage to come up with rather thought-out, synthetic and effective solutions. It's just another logic, we don't all think the same way. Research mode approaches the subject by every possible angle and confronts ideas! This type of software makes the approach easier.