Behavioural Sciences in Corporates - Part 15 - On being a scientist in a corporate world

Dear Readers - Every February 28th, India celebrates National Science Day on the occasion of the discovery of the Raman Effect by the Nobel Laureate Dr C.V. Raman. I only thought it apt to write this short piece based on a recent book that I have been reading around being a scientist in a corporate world. Welcome to the 15th in a series of articles on joining the dots between Behavioural Sciences and the Corporate world. Feel free to read, share previous articles.

Once again, my batchmates and I had been through a wonderful one month of unlearning and learning, this time covering the important topic of Operations. Based on a series of interesting case studies, research papers and a very different pedagogy we immersed in the topic under the supervision of Professor Vish Krishnan and continued our efforts to narrow down our own research topics. As mentioned before, part of the reason for writing these blogs series is to refine my own thinking and synthesize the learning from areas of research. This is also my way of intellectual unwinding after a heavy course :)

This particular blog is based on a recent book called "Think Again" written by Prof. Adam Grant, Organizational Psychologist at The Wharton School of Business. This is an excerpt of some of the key ideas mentioned in the book which I found immediately applicable.

Are you a Preacher, Prosecutor or Politician?

In the day-2-day corporate jobs, we assume various roles (not referring to our roles as in titles, job descriptions) but we become either a preacher, prosecutor or a politician. Think about it, most of us take immense pride in our knowledge, experience and take pride in staying true to our beliefs and opinions. According to Prof. Grant, "We often slip into the three mindsets mentioned before. We take on a particular identity and use a distinct set of tools.

• Preacher - We go into preacher mode when our sacred beliefs are in jeopardy: we deliver sermons to protect and promote our ideals.
• Prosecutor - We enter prosecutor mode when we recognize flaws in other people’s reasoning: we marshal arguments to prove them wrong and win our case.
• Politician - We shift into politician mode when we’re seeking to win over an audience: we campaign and lobby for the approval of our constituents.

According to Prof. Grant, "The risk is that we become so wrapped up in preaching that we’re right, prosecuting others who are wrong, and politicking for the support that we don’t bother to rethink our own views.”

Being in a VUCA world, "we need to spend as much time rethinking as we do thinking”. My current line of research is to study a key aspect of how "unlearning" happens or rather doesn't.

Be a scientist in a corporate world

Prof. Grant goes on to say that instead of us being a preacher, prosecutor or politician we should rather try putting on a different lens that of a scientist. Of course, this depends on the context but by and large, putting on this lens will give us a different frame of mind or mindset. “We move into scientist mode when we’re searching for the truth: we run experiments to test hypotheses and discover knowledge."

Considering, scientific tools aren’t reserved only for people who conduct research, corporate leaders and managers also have access to the same set of toolsets. Appropriate use of statistics, hypotheses, experimentation is something that leaders and managers must do in order for organizations to be innovative, forward-thinking and growth-oriented. Prof. Grant wonders, "if it's possible to train people in other fields to think more like scientists, and if so, do they end up making smarter choices?"

This has been my motivation to become a scientist in the corporate world. I would still not know a lot of things however, I'll at least be in a relentless pursuit of truth, use the tools that I am learning in the process of conducting rigorous, practical, novel research and hopefully make better decisions at work and in life.

Intellectual Humility in Corporate World

So, if all of the above makes perfect sense why is that many leaders, managers find it hard to come out of these three modes of a preacher, prosecutor, a politician? One of the reasons why this happens is the absence of "intellectual humility". It is about acknowledging the fact that one doesn't know many things. A piece of practical advice that Prof. Grant gives is to make a long list of topics, areas where one is ignorant. It has been said that wisdom is knowing what we don’t know. Therefore, aspire to be a wise leader/manager than a knowledgeable one.

There's an interesting paper on Expressed humility in organizations: Implications for performance, teams, and leadership - I'd encourage you to read up on it. 

Time to Re-Think

There is a rethinking cycle that each of us goes through. When we shift out of the scientist mode the rethinking cycle breaks down.

The pitfalls of each of the three modes are:

• Preacher - We already think we know the truth and the answer and there is nothing more to be found. Our minds close on any new information that is shared with us.
• Prosecutor - Our pride brings along conviction rather than doubt, but at the same time that casts our mind in stone and we are laser focussed on changing other's mindset. We get into confirmation and desirability bias.
• Politician - As a politician, we ignore or dismiss whatever doesn't work in our favour. We shun those who oppose us and are busy putting a show for others to be pleased and be on our side that we don't speak up for the truth or relegate it to the backseat. We become arrogant and fall into the fat-cat syndrome, resting on our laurels.

Now think of all the people around you and also introspect yourself - how often have you fallen into these traps. Next time you do so, re-think, wear that scientist hat and go out in search of the truth. It may be unpleasant - your revenue numbers may be down, your team's productivity may have nosedived and your customers may be unhappy with the service your organization is providing. But in all of these circumstances, you can do one powerful thing to do a relentless root cause analysis, build hypotheses for testing causes and fix those and emerge as a winner.

If this has aroused the curiosity in you, consider this “Rethinking is a skill set, but it’s also a mindset. We already have many of the mental tools we need. We just have to remember to get them out of the shed and remove the rust.” I believe our minds get rusted due to overconfidence, hubris and unwillingness to listen to others. It's time to re-think - so Think Again!! :)

Speaking for myself, I am blessed to have gotten the opportunity to be in the company of wonderful batchmates in the PhD program along with whom I have embarked on this journey to become a scientist and hoping to come out with some interesting research.

Behavioural Sciences in Corporates is a fascinating area and there's so much for us to learn and share with each other. As always, I sincerely welcome your feedback and comments on this series. So long!