Yolo County Non-Positional Thinking

Shrink-Wrapped in Our Own Thinking:
Thinking That Transforms
 Presented by
 Ariane David, PhD
 Senior Partner
 The Veritas Group
 Senior Lecturer
 California State University, Northridge
 ADavid@TheVeritasGroup.com
Non-Positional Thinking and
The Uncertainty Contingency
Yolo County Department of Child Support Services
Ariane David, PhD
The VERITAS Group
California State University, Northridge
Woodbury University
ADavid@TheVeritasGroup.com www.theveritasgroup.com

 Presented by
 Ariane David, PhD
 Senior Partner
 The Veritas Group
 Senior Lecturer
 California State University, Northridge
 ADavid@TheVeritasGroup.com
No need to remember everything or take amazing notes:
this PowerPoint presentation will posted at
www.theveritasgroup.com

Today you’ll see…
 that you don’t really know what you think you know
Non-Positional Thinking:
Thinking Beyond the Obvious

Today you’ll see
 that you don’t really know what you think you know
…at the same time you’ll learn
 how to “see” what you’ve never been able to see before

We’ll look at:
• How we think vs. how we think we think
• The tyrant brain and what it means in real life
• So now what?

The Science of the Brain:
A Quick Tour

Max Wertheimer’s Stroboscope:
The whole is more than the sum of the parts.

Sir Frederick Bartlett -
Making Memory, Meaning, & Schemas
 The War of the Ghosts - Sydney
 “Asian” mask *
 Schemas

Bartlett (cont) - Making Memory, Meaning, &
Schemas

Sir Frederick Bartlett - Making Memory,
Meaning, & Schemas
 The War of the Ghosts - Sydney
 “Asian” mask
 Schemas

Elizabeth Loftus – Eyewitness Testimony
What we store in memory is affected not only by pre-
existing knowledge but also by post-event information
including
• Language
• Other information
What we remember might never have happened.

Perception
 Millions of bits of information assail our senses every minute;
we can perceive only a tiny number of sensory impressions.
 We focus only on what is immediately relevant and what
arouses us emotionally.
 Perception is shaped by past experiences including
memories and beliefs.
 As a result, our actions are based on what we believe is so,
not on what actually is so.
Antonio Damasio: The Neurobiology of Thinking

Emotions
 Emotions are body reactions to what’s happening
 Every sensory impression is paired with an emotion (called an
emotional tag) at the moment of perception
 The pair become memory
 The purpose of emotional tags is rapid response

Emotions
 The role of emotions in decision-making
 The myth of rational decision-making
 Suppressed vs. no emotions

Memory

Memory
 Memory is not a video; memories are NOT stored complete
anywhere in the brain.
 What we think of as memory is the result the simultaneous
firing of neurons, “a trick of timing”.
 Neurons carry no content, only the pattern code by which
neurons will fire, and when.
Think the image on your TV.

…thus
 What we remember is a subjective and creative
fabrication
 What we remember changes every time we recall it.
 We can never be certain about what we remember.
 Confidence in our memories has nothing to do with
accuracy: memories can be completely fabricated and
seem absolutely real.

…as a result
You can never be certain that what you remember
actually happened the way you remember it;
in fact, you can be certain that it didn't!
Thus Uncertainty is the first contingency of non-positional thinking.

Organizing Patterns: a model of the thinking brain
 Organizing patterns are a kind of template that allow us to organize
everything we know.
 We start building organizing patterns at birth.
 Our first/master organizing patterns are the strongest, and most
persistent and resilient.
 All future organizing patterns are formed within master organizing
patterns.
 The totality of all our organizing patterns creates our constructed
universe – our entire reality.

Organizing Patterns: reinforce themselves
 No impartial evidence needed.
 What we perceive is taken as proof that
our position/beliefs are right.
 Position/beliefs dictate what we see,
what we see reinforces the
position/beliefs.

Organizing Patterns Reinforce Themselves

Examples of Simple Organizing Patterns

Here's the details for the October Hill Country Wine & Supper Club
Dinner:
Date: Thursday, October 4, 2012
Time: 6:30 p.m.
Where: River City Grille, Marble Falls, TX
Cost: $40 per person, which includes a three-course meal, three glasses
of wine, and recipe booklet. Tax and gratuity not included.
Featured Winery: Stone House Vineyard
October Hill Country Wine & Supper Club Menu
Warm Artichoke & Crap Dip with Toasted Baguettes
Filet of Sole Fish En Papillote with Au Gratin Potatoes
Raspberry & Chocolate Cream Cheese Stuffed Cupcakes

Why is it important to know this?
 We each live in a universe of our own construction.
 Its organizing patterns and logic are perfect for physical survival,
but absent the beasts they can be a real barrier to clear thinking.
Uncertainty is the first contingency of non-positional thinking.

Organizing Patterns > Positional Thinking
The Tyrant Brain
 Tyranny of Knowledge*
 Tyranny of Emotions*
 Tyranny of Logic *

Tyranny of Knowledge
 Choosing existing knowledge simply because it’s the
knowledge we have.
 Assuming that the knowledge we have is better than
knowledge we don’t have or the knowledge others have.
 Doing what worked in the past only because it worked in the
past, without examining how appropriate that strategy is in light
new information, including assuming the future will be like the
past.

Tyranny of Knowledge: examples
 General’s Dilemma
 Fulfilled Expectations
 Success Double Bind

 Every organizing pattern is permanently grounded in emotions
(as well as sensory experience). Thus, every one of our
responses is also grounded in emotion.
 Emotions affect logic, but cannot be dealt with logically.
Tyranny of Emotion

Tyranny of Emotion: examples
We take cognitive shortcuts in our reasoning to help us
make sense quickly, but fail to verify the accuracy.
Shortcut errors
 Stereotyping
 Biases
These had important survival value on the savannah!

Tyranny of Logic
 What is logic?
 What determines if something is logical?
 Can logic be wrong?

Tyranny of Logic
 Logic is nothing more than the rules you’ve made up for navigating within
your constructed universe!
 These rules are based on how easily and powerfully one thought gets
connected to another: thoughts that connect easily are seen to be logical.
 There are as many different systems of logic as there are beings on the
earth.
 Logic is subjective like taste. Nothing is ever “illogical”; things are just
“differently-logical”
Why does this matter in non-positional thinking?

Tyranny of Logic: examples
 Zero-sum illusion*
 Baboon trap*
 Lost Key dilemma*

Zero Sum Illusion
 Believing that there is a limited amount of “solution”,
including “either/or”, “middle-of-the-road”, and “fixed
position” thinking.
 Think politics!

Baboon Trap
Thinking for the short term, not how current actions
lead to future outcomes.
Seeing only parts, but not how they’re related or how
they form a whole.
Attachment to unworkable situations. Ex. Our LIVES!

Lost Key Dilemma
Looking for information/solutions/answers somewhere
only because that’s where the information is easy to
access. Ex. case load, education, quarterly reports, Deming, Vioxx.
Not everything that can be counted counts; not everything that
counts can be counted.
(Variously attributed to Albert Einstein, W. Edwards Deming and a half dozen others)

The opportunity lies in a new way of thinking,
one that is based on how we actually think
rather than how we believe we think.
It is called Non-Positional Thinking

What Non-positional Thinking Is:
 It is based in the knowledge that human thought is fallible, that we
cannot trust what we think we know (uncertainty).
 Non-positional thinking is a way of being.
 It rises above the “position” to view other positions equally.
 We never arrive at being a non-positional thinker; we can only strive to
think non-positionally.
Non-positional thinking requires commitment and perseverance.

What Non-positional Thinking Is Not:
 Non-positional thinking is not a short-cut to effective
reasoning.
 A linear process, recipe, or check list for how to think (we
cannot think non-positionally until we grasp the fallibility of our
thought).
 A tool-kit of techniques and methodologies.
 A destination or a position in the middle.

Non-Positional thinking is Based on
Four Contingencies

Contingencies of Non-Positional Thinking
and Intellectual Virtues
Uncertainty > intellectual humility
Curiosity > intellectual openness
Discernment > wisdom
Commitment > courage

Uncertainty Contingency: Humility
 Uncertainty means realizing that our knowledge about the world is
massively unreliable, that it is our personal constructed universe.
 Our constructed universe is not the world, just a good-enough
representation of it that allows us to survive(ish).
 Certainty that our constructed universe is the world leads to almost all
of the world’s problems.
 Humility is the realization that we and all humans, and our knowledge,
beliefs, and assumptions are fallible.
Uncertainty doesn’t mean being paralyzed by doubt,
but rather being aware of the fallibility of our knowledge..

Uncertainty Contingency: Skills
What is it that I am not seeing the seeing of which would change everything?
The Ability To:
 Being able to accept hold in our minds the notion that human
beings, and our knowledge and beliefs are fallible, and...
 that we base our point of view on assumptions that may or may
not be accurate.
 Keep ALL conclusions, no matter how excellent they are now,
open to future scrutiny.
 Doubt constructively, with the intention of learning.
 Realize that our beliefs cannot tell us anything about the world.

The uncertainty contingency makes us realize that
we can’t be certain what color the ball actually is no
matter how obvious it seems.
The curiosity contingency makes us want to find out.

Curiosity Contingency: Openness
 Curiosity means that (in the light of our uncertainty) we are eager
and determined to discover what we don’t know, the knowing of
which could change everything.
 That we are eager to see the merit in the other points of view.
 It leads to the impartial gathering of relevant information.

Curiosity Contingency: Skills
 Enthusiastically and impartially seek and collect the relevant
information.
 Maintain an open-minded outlook with respect to our own beliefs
and to the assertions of others.
 Honestly ask and answer, “Do I really want to know what lies
outside my point of view?”
The Ability To:

Discernment Contingency: Wisdom
 Attempting to see things truly as opposed to looking for
confirming evidence; desire to weigh evidence impartially.
 Recognizing and questioning our own assumptions and biases
and seeking to go beyond them.
 Judging the merits of our own point of view by the same
standards we use to judge others’ points of view.

Discernment Contingency: Skills
 Attempt to see things as they truly are. Be truthful (at least to ourselves).
 Weigh information fairly, i.e., judging the merits of our own beliefs with
the same rigor and by the same standards by which we judge the merits
of others.
 Recognize when information is factual, tangible, provable, anecdotal, or
opinion, including assessing the credibility of the sources (including
ourselves) and what they have to gain or lose.
 Identify and question assumptions and the assumptions of those we tend
to believe.
 Heartily seek an impartial solution.
The Ability To:

Commitment Contingency: Courage
 Commitment is the overarching principle. It means being
determined to move beyond our own point of view, assumptions,
judgments, and conclusions (organizing patterns) even in the face
of our own fear.
 It means having the courage to acknowledge and act on those
discoveries, including being willing to change our dearly held
position.
 It means tolerance for differing, even opposing, points of view.

Commitment Contingency: Skills
 Accept new evidence even if it conflicts with previous beliefs.
 Be courageous enough to acknowledge it.
 Discard hypotheses that have proved inadequate.
 Adapt oneself to the facts of this world.
 Persevere even in the face of our own discomfort.
 Operate in a demonstrably fair and tolerant way.
The Ability To:

Strategic Believing and Doubting

 We need strategic believing for those things that we tend to dismiss
or that repel us.
 We need strategic doubting for those things we’re certain of, things
that we think need no questioning.
 Neither comes easy to human beings.
 Both are necessary to non-positional thinking

Strategic Believing:
Believing What is Most Doubtful to Us
 The intention is to act “as if” we believed an unattractive proposition in
order to see the merits of the argument before we attempt to debunk it.
 The purpose is not to accept the proposition, but to try to see all the things
about it that we hadn’t seen before, including hidden merits, in order to to
understand it.
 It is not just about listening to different views, or being respectful of them,
but being able to restate them impartially. (Note to myself: maybe this
shouldn’t be here and should be in the “to do” part as part of the tool kit.)

Strategic Doubting:
Doubting What is Most Believable to Us
 The intention is to open-mindedly scrutinize appealing assertions or beliefs. The
purpose is not to reject them but to better understand them.
 It involves conscious and willful skepticism for our own dearly held beliefs and
other assertions we find particularly attractive.
 In non-positional doubting we are testing for validity.
 Strategic doubting comes from the realization that we can’t be certain of what
we know.

Breakout Exercise

Strategic Believing and Doubting: Breakout
Find a partner (preferably someone you don’t know well)
Strategic believing:
1. Think of a current conflict/disagreement you have with another (adversary).
2. Assume the position of that person’s best friend or other person who advocates
the adversary’s position (ok to make it up).
3. Pretending to be the advocate, make the case for the adversary’s argument to
your partner.
4. Switch
Strategic doubting
1. Using the same situation, assume the position of your adversary.
2. Pretending to be you own adversary, tell you partner everything that’s wrong
with your position.
3. Switch

Problem Solving and Decision Making

Getting Rid of the Bridge Bat Problem

Bridge-Bats Bind: Classic Problem Solving Methodology
 What is the issue or problem?
 What information do I have?
 What information do you need to solve it?
 What is the plan/methodology for solving the problem?
 What are possible solutions?
 What are pros and cons of each solution?
 What is your solution?
Bat Breakout and Discussion

Non-Positional Problem Solving
A View of the Problem From Higher Up

Non-Positional Problem Solving
Is based on the notions that
 Beneath every apparent problem lies the actual far more complex and
hard to see problem. Solving only the apparent problem usually leads
to worse problems.
 The actual problem involves people and how they think about the
problem.
 Discovering what the actual problem is is the most important part of
finding the solution!
There is no problem that doesn’t have a solution if we are willing to
change the way we think about it.
Constantin David

Classical Problem Solving Methodology
(doesn’t work for a complex problem; never has!)
 Identify the issue or problem.
 Gather information about the problem.
 Identify possible solutions/decisions.
 Determine the pros and cons of each solution.
 Choose a solution.
 Do it.
 Review the outcomes.

First ask
 What is the goal?
– Is the goal to solve the real problem or to validate my position?( Ex.
To solve the real problem or get rid of the bats? To serve the
customer or to serve the needs of managers?)
 What is my attitude?
– What will I lose if I am wrong? (note: we ALWAYS have something to
lose.)
– Do I really want to know (or do I have my mind made up)? Is there
anything that could persuade me I’m wrong? If the answer is YES,
and you are actually in uncertainty, then curiosity comes next.
A Different Approach:
Finding the Actual Issue is the most important part

Next
 Discover what is the problem or issue actually is
– Are we looking at the same problem? What do I believe the
problem to be? Is there another view about what the problem is?
Are we talking facts of feelings?
– What are the facts? (observables, behaviors, results?)
– What are other explanations for the observables?
– What human dynamics are involved?
– What assumptions am I making? Is there any evidence to back
them up? What if I’m wrong?
– LISTEN! Non-Positional Listening*
Non-positional Problem Solving:
Finding the Actual Issue

Non-positional Listening
 Non-positional listening is not easy. Our organizing
patterns keep kicking in, telling us we know what’s going
on.
 The way around this is to listen to hear something that
you have not heard before.

Next
 Discover the real underlying (human) problem
– How does the culture keep the problem in place? (organizational
habits – “the way we do things around here”.)
– What is it I’m not seeing about this problem? If you’ve heard it
all before, you’re not listening.
– Have I honestly sought information that disconfirms my
beliefs?(strategic believing and doubting.
– Language: does it mean the same to all of us? Neutral or
positional? Is it biasing our understanding?

Non-Positional Solutions
The easy part
 What are possible solutions for the actual problem?
 Which one best fulfills the real goal?
 What is the reasoning process I used in order to reach this
conclusion?
 What effects will this decision have on the larger system
now and in the long run?

Solving the Bridge Bat Problem

Bat Facts
This information was readily available to anyone at the
time of crisis:
 500,000 bats eat 10,000 pounds of bugs every day
 Bats are no more prone to rabies than squirrels,
chipmunks, raccoons or other wild animals
 No cases of rabid bats were reported in the area
 While there were several cases of bat bites, they did not
break the skin
 All bite cases involved people trying to handle or interfere
with bats, or of bats that got trapped

Bridge-bats - what is the real problem?
Breakout

Austin Bats Create an Industry

Creating a Learning Organization

Two Kinds of Learning
 Adaptive learning
– Based in fear
– Uses blame to succeed
– Purpose is survival
– Defensive
 Generative learning
– Based in curiosity and openness
– Uses accountability to succeed
– Purpose is growth and self-expression
– Creative

Non-Learning Organization: Positional Problem Solving
BLAME
Problem
Fear
Blame / Fault
DefensivenessDenial
Distorted Information
Ineffective Action /
No Learning
Fear /Blame
No learning can take place in the space of blame.

Learning Organization: Non-Positional Problem Solving
Problem
Quality information
and communication
CollaborationEffective action
Organizational learning
Openness / Curiosity
Accountability
Mistakes are the price we pay for learning.

You say WHAT? Stuck in Organizing Patterns
“Who the hell wants to hear actors talk?”
– HM Warner, Warner Bros, 1927
"I think there is a world market for about five computers“
– Thomas Watson, CEO, IBM 1958
…and the winner
“Sensible and responsible women do not want to vote.”
– Grover Cleveland, US President 1905

Thinking That Transforms Everything
 A great many people think they are thinking when they
are merely rearranging their prejudices.
– William James
 It is much easier to believe than to think.
– James Harvey Robinson

The Uncertainty Proposition
“Question everything at least once in your life…”
(not “something” but “everything”!)
“Doubt is the organ of wisdom.”
Rene Descartes

Parting Thought…
It ain’t what you don’t know that gets you into trouble,
it’s what you know for sure that just ain’t so.
– Mark Twain

Questions/Comments/Feedback
Ariane David, PhD
The Veritas Group
Additional Information
ADavid@TheVeritasGroup.com
www.theveritasgroup.com

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