Making Up Your Mind About People

Notes from Dr. Seonaid Charlesworth’s presentation at The Art of Leadership Conference, Friday, October 21, 2016.

The speaker decided to go to graduate school after her boss, a good leader and change-maker, was fired. She studied how decisions are made in companies to hire and fire people.

She described how there are two speeds involved in thinking: slow (analytical thinking) and fast (intuitive thinking). It turns out that sometimes our quickest response to a question or situation may not be the right response. She illustrated this point by asking the audience, “How many of each species did Moses take on the Ark?” If you took a moment to reflect on the full question, you would realize that Moses didn’t take anything on any ark — that was Noah!

Also, we seem to make up stories about people, so it’s important to pay attention to inconsistent views to your own (about others or yourself).

To improve the accuracy of our decisions, ask the following three questions and don’t wait too long to make a decision:

1. What do you want?
2. What’s the story you’re telling yourself?
3. When will you decide?

An insight I gained from this presentation was to listen closely to evidence of how I may come across to others, even if it contradicts what I think about myself.