The Intelligence Trap by David Robson -

 

Intelligence Trap

David Robson

 

Currently, I am reading Intelligence Trap, written by David Robson. I found it captivating and thought of sharing with my friends, some of the highlights that I found it applicable to all of us.

Intelligent people can also act stupidly, as academic education fails to protect us from cognitive errors. As intelligent people have huge ego and they are dogmatic, they are unable to see holes in their logic and refuse to take advice from others. More often than not, they get into biased thinking and not able to perceive objectively. This broadly sums up the title of the book “The Intelligence Trap”. I would like to clarify that, as I am not considered intelligent, I do not fall under the intelligence trap 😊

I have tried to summarise the findings in bullet form, for easy reading.

Ø  Intelligence without wisdom will get you nowhere.

Ø  It is not enough to have a good mind; to apply it correctly is more important.

Ø  Great many people think they are thinking, but they are merely rearranging their prejudices.

Ø  High IQ scores do not imply that one is capable of taking wise decisions.

Ø  Intelligent people use their intelligence and cleverness to dismiss all counter-arguments and push their views even if they are not correct.

Ø  One can be intelligent and irrational too.

Ø  Disrationalia is another negative feature, whereby they acquire para-normal and superstitious beliefs and they forget to use their common sense.

Ø  Motivated reasoning blocks alternative arguments.

Ø  By promoting their own view points and beliefs, intelligence can be a tool for propaganda rather than truth-seeking.

Ø  In doing so, logic and reasoning is thrown  out.

Ø  Curse of expertise is one form of intelligence trap, because one is too confident of their expertise and becomes blind to counter views.

Ø  Inflated self-confidence and earned dogmatism are start of the experts’ flaws.

Ø  Experise makes you blind to uncertainty, whereas ignorance makes you ready to accept others’ views.

Ø  When the going gets tough, less experienced people are likely to guide you out of the mess.

Ø  Intelligence is the engine and education and expertise are its fuel.

4 forms of intelligence trap

Ø  Lacking necessary tacit knowledge and counter factual thinking, which is essential for executing a plan effectively.

Ø  Motivated reasoning and bias blind spot, whereby they fail to recognize flaws in their own thinking.

Ø  Too much confidence in their judgement and is susceptible to bias.

Ø   Expertise makes us oblivious to the warning signals that disaster is looming; one is more susceptible to biased thinking.

3 broad reasons why intelligent people may act stupidly

Ø  May lack creative or practical intelligence, essential to meet various challenges

Ø  May use biased intuitive judgements to make decisions

Ø  May dismiss any evidence that contradicts their views

Therefore, it can be said that inflated self-confidence and earned dogmatism are the beginning of the “experts’ flaws”.

How not to get into Intelligence Trap

Ø  One should have intellectual humility to be aware of the limits of one’s own knowledge and uncertainty in one’s judgement. Essentially, one should see inside the blind spot. Humility and open mind is the pre-requisite to have wisdom.

Ø  A truly wise man would say “I am wise because I know that I know nothing”.

Ø  Intellectual humility and capacity to understand others’ view points may keep you healthy and is better than your actual intelligence.

Ø  Unbiased decision making is the key component of wisdom.

Ø  In order to attain all of the above, it is essential that you step back a little to assess objectively and be dispassionately.

Ø  Intuition is an important part of decision-making. It is not possible that you are able to judge based purely on analytical basis.

Ø   Open-minded thinking helps in good decision-making; for this, one should not allow passion to rule over action.

Ø  Allot some time daily for self-reflection.

Ø  Even during negotiations, one need to be alert to subtle emotional signals from the other side of the table, and one should not get swept away by strong feelings when discussions don’t go as per plan.

4 distinct stages of learning curve

Ø  Complete beginner – Does not even know what he/she does not know [unclonsciously incompetent]

Ø  consciously incompetent - Understand the skills one lacks and what one needs to learn

Ø  Consciously competent – can solve most of the problems, but takes lot of time to think before taking a decision

Ø  Unconscious competence – Decisions making is second nature; BUT expert bias can creep in due to over-confidence.

Summing up

Ø  In order to learn without bias and blind spot, one requires reflective competence, capacity to explore our feelings and intuitions and to identify bias in time.

Ø  Cognitive reflection is the way forward to respond to critical info and overpower mis-info.

Ø  It is not your brain power that matters, but to use or not to use it.

Ø  If you are not willing to think, you are not intelligent, irrespective of your high IQ.

Ø  Reflective thinking is negatively correlated with use of smartphones. Technology has made us lazy thinkers.

Ø  Over-confidence make you more at risk.

Ø  Step aside of echo chamber so as to probe someone else’s broader views.

Ø  Intellectual humility, open-minded thinking, emotional regulation and cognitive reflection help us to take control of our mind’s most powerful thinking engine.

Ø  General intelligence, curiosity and conscientiousness are three pillars of academic success.

Ø  A child is curious about everything; as the child grows up, curiosity drops rapidly. Abundant curiosity is sufficient to take up anything you want.

Ø  Curiosity and growth mindset can change our path so as to protect us from dogmatism, and to help us to reason wisely without prejudices.

Ø  Importance of curiosity is all the more important in today’s world, when changes take place so soon that the knowledge, unless updated, becomes obsolete.

Ø  We should learn how to learn from our failure. It is an irony that, if something good happens, I am a genius; if something bad happens, it is due to someone else’s mistakes!

Ø  The more you learn, the more curious you become.

Ø  Even genius cannot forego effort.  One should view the abilities as work-in-progress, leading to growth mindset.

Ø  Error is not a sign of permanent failure, but is an index of what still needs to be done.

 

I would urge my friends to read this book whenever they can.

What you do is who you are – Ben Horowitz

 What you do is who you are – Ben Horowitz

I came across this fascinating book “What you do is who you are” by Ben Horowitz, beautifully explaining the importance of culture in an organization and how to create business culture. No oganisation can remain static; it is, therefore, necessary to go through culture of an organisation again and, wherever necessary, to finetune the same, to align with the changed business environment. Of course, culture of the organisation, which stresses on the virtues of integrity, honesty and trust, is permanent and should not be diluted.    I tried to summarise the main points brought out in the book, which has beautifully brought out culture and its importance to any business.

 

Ø What you are is what you do; One needs to do things, which are to be done, so that one can be who wants to be.

Ø Trust is fundamental to running an organization. Amount of communication is inversely proportional to the level of trust.

Ø As communication grows, communication becomes its biggest challenge.

Ø  Integrity, honesty and trust are long-term cultural investments and are permanent, which helps in creating better place to work and make the company a better one to do business with in the long run.

Ø Integrity cannot have boundaries; it is universal and you must live upto them in every context.

Ø Looking at the dynamic business environment, one needs to be flexible in adopting culture. For instance, when demand for warehousing is high, culture is built to bring in timely delivery, competitiveness and precision. In case of dip in business, there may be emphasis on quality, relationship, reliability, partnership, etc.

Ø There are f4 “C”s to sell our product –

-         Competence [understand need of customers, their buying criteria, budget, etc.]

-         Confidence to state your view point

-         Courage to stand by it

-         Conviction and belief that the customer will buy

 

Ø As we grow, one of the mistakes that may creep in, is to bring in lot of processes and rules, which can stifle creativity and free thinking. While processes have to be put in place to ensure that there are no surprises, it is also important that they don’t put brakes on free will and innovation. Processes and rules should remain a tool only and cannot rule over individual decision making.

Ø Merely to beat competition and grow the market, one cannot compromise on our culture or remove ethics from culture. This can be disastrous in the long run.

Ø At all times, our motto should be “We do the right thing. Period”.

Ø Culture is a code of action, a system of virtues, Virtue is a belief that you actively pursue, as belief without action is worthless. What you do is what you are. Virtue is tested when one is faced with different choices. Virtue is intact when your don’t compromise on the values, even at the cost losing something.

Ø Samurai are great warriors of Japan and are known for their loyalty and bravery. Some of the codes followed by a Samurai warrior are –

·        Rectitude/justice

·        Courage

·        Honour

·        Loyalty

·        Benevolence

·        Empathy

·        Self-contol

·        Veracity/sincerity

 

Ø Culture is a consequence of action rather than beliefs.

Ø Employees joining the company are required to undergo orientation program to enable cultural fit.

Ø People spend most of the time in office and they become who they are and they become the culture.

Ø To ensure that culture is established, people down the line should be on same page.

Ø One cannot have one set of ethics for customers and an entirely different set for in-house.

Ø Culture and strategy must be cohere, to be effective. For instance, in case of NDR, we are able to be ahead of competition mainly due to lower capex/sq.ft. and fastest turnaround. Our culture should, therefore, be attentiveness to frugality and strategy should be to keep cost under control and delivery of warehouse ahead of time.

Ø For a vibrant culture, the company should be able to positively assert the following to its team :

-         They make a difference

-         They matter to the company

-         Their contribution will move the company forward

-         They will be noticed

Ø  Important element of a company’s culture is that it cares for its employees.

Ø Ethical integrity must be maintained at any cost.

Ø Loyalty is about quality of relationship.

Cultural Checklist

Ø Cultural design should align with both the personality of the leader and strategy. To be defined in an unambiguous way.

Ø Cultural orientation – make the first day count

Ø Draw rules that will make people ask “Why do we have this rule?” This will reinforce cultural elements and ensure compliance.

Ø To make the lesson impactful, use concrete examples and must be dramatic to catch attention.

Ø Make ethics explicit and not to leave the principles unsaid.

Ø Give cultural tenets deep meaning so that all are on same page and there is no confusion as to the objective.

Ø Walk the talk – Refrain from choosing virtues which you don’t practice yourself.

Ø Perfect culture is impossible. Try to have best possible culture to ensure it stays aimed at its target.

Ø Culture begins with deciding what you value most. Thereafter, help the team practice behaviours that reflect those virtues.

Ø Great culture is when you feel “I am being the person I want to be”.