Unlearn to Relearn

It is a common practice even amongst the wisest of us to have a one track approach to finding solutions to any given problem we are faced with. This way of thinking stems from our learnt behavior over the course of many years, where our mind fool us with all sorts of biasness. We convince ourselves that our plan can lead us to success, nothing else is as workable. This mindset or way of approaching problems however is extremely detrimental to our growth as individuals or groups. How adaptive we are and how quick we are to adapt will determine our continuous success against chasing opportunities or solving problems. Our capacity to adapt to the ever-changing world around us ensures our chances of success and even survival.?

This brings to my mind a very interesting story put forth by the Adam grant in his book Think Again. In the opening chapter he shares story of fire fighters who were running downhill to change the course of fire. Suddenly they realized fire was fast approaching them, in this moment they calculated their best option known to them. They turned and started running back up the hill. One person however had a completely different approach; where he decided my only chance to escape this high fire is if he can quickly burn the fire around himself so when fire does approach him it moves towards the bushes which weren’t burnt already. He quickly burnt the bushes around him and covered himself with his scarf and sat as low as possible. As the only survivor this story leaves us with a very important life changing lesson that how we have to unlearn and relearn to choose the best possible solution to ever growing problems around us.?

Applying this concept to our processes in how we interact with our customers, how we align our teams, how we can challenge the assumptions around us is key as it can open many doors for us if we are open to just unlearn and relearn.