Seeing What Others Don't

“Seeing What Others Don’t” is a book on a very interesting subject – Insights.

Insights, for me, are nothing short of super-power. We all have the capacity, and we use insights to solve difficult issues, get creative ideas, explain strange patterns and so on. Most of us, call it our “aha” moment when a flash of comprehension hits us like a thousand-watt bulb or like a magician pulling a rabbit out of a hat. But if we are asked how we got this brilliant idea, we are at a loss to explain.

Insights change us forever...it’s a one-way street. Once we get an insight about an issue, our understanding changes and we change the way we see, feel, act and even desire. Insights will lead to changing of goals even.

Indeed, human race has progressed in Science, Medicine, Technology, and other fields due to people getting insights... Discovery of Relativity Theory, Double Helix structure of DNA, Cause of yellow fever, Ulcers and Cholera, Discovery of AIDS, Discovery of the Ponzi scheme fraud of Bernie Madoff, Using the British naval strategy to attack Pearl Harbor by the Japanese naval commander are some wonderful examples in the book.

It’s also true that, even after being exposed to the same information and experiences, many people miss the insight while others get it. The financial crash of 2008 was foreseen by few investors who made millions by betting on it.?Sometimes, when we are confronted with a very serious problem, even a life & death issue, we get an insight to overcome the problem. The example is of a fireman, who in 1955, was trapped by a forest fire that chased the team up a hill. The fire killed 12 of them but only three escaped. The leader escaped by setting fire to the grass and starving the Fire that was chasing him of oxygen – a sudden insight.

The Author sets out to investigate if there is a way of understanding how insights happen. He collected & analysed 125 cases of insights. The cases themselves make a very interesting reading. The cases cover Science, Medicine, Military, Art, Management, Sports, Psychotherapy, Technology & Everyday Life.

He concludes that insights are triggered by spotting Connections, Curiosity, Coincidences, Contradictions & by Creative Desperation. Multiple examples are given for each of these elements. He comes up with a 3-path model of insights which is a very nice way of remembering the concept. He also describes conditions needed to enable insights – Relevant Experience, Open mindedness, Active Stance, and Playful reasoning.

The author then examines the Organization context of insights. He defines Performance as under:

????????????????(Increase in Performance) = (Reducing Errors) + (Increasing Insights)

?The author discusses how we, as individuals and Organizations suppress and repress conditions and thinking needed to generate insights. The pressure of Predictability and Perfection that drives most Organizations and Individuals to work on reducing Errors and not push for Insights though both are needed.

?To summarize, the book covers the following:

?1.????What is the nature of Insights

2.????What are triggers that can lead to insights

3.????What stops us from having insights and how to overcome them

4.????What stops organizations from encouraging insights and how to overcome them

?I really enjoyed this one!!!?

I hope to be more insightful in my living from now on!!