Learning is great, but how about unlearning?

Growing up, many of you would relate to that one uncle who would give you career advice for free. At work, there would be people who would tell you the ‘right’ way to approach a problem. Only later, you would have come to realize that they were wrong.

The world is full of such ‘smart’ people who are “frequently in error, but never in doubt”. Their confidence, the consistency of thought and their passion displayed through strong opinions gives them the ability to influence people around them. When challenged, they would fight back and ensure that they are right. Even in the face of new evidence, they would still vehemently protect their point of view

Turns out, ‘smart’ people are those who can admit they are wrong and then be able to change their opinions. Jeff Bezos of Amazon takes this counter-intuitive view. According to him “…the smartest people are constantly revising their understanding, reconsidering a problem they thought they'd already solved. They're open to new points of view, new information, new ideas, contradictions, and challenges to their own way of thinking," 

Stanford professor Bob Sutton says that strong opinions mean you are "too attached to what you believe, which undermines your ability to 'see' and 'hear' evidence that clashes with your opinions."

But then aren’t we all in a sense very attached or rather too attached to what we believe? And that is why the ability to change our opinion is a tough thing to do. It requires us to admit to ourselves and to others that we were ‘wrong’ and that our old way of thinking was flawed.

If you think you are gifted with this trait and can shed outdated mental models, you have what they now call “intellectual humility”. Or what the World Economic Forum lists as one of the top skills required for 2020 under “Cognitive Flexibility”.

In plain language, it’s really about “unlearning”

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#EQ #Emotional Intelligence #SumanInsights