winning the brain game
fixing the 7 fatal flaws of thinking
by Matthew E. May
Over the course of 10 years and several hundreds of interactive creative sessions, seminars and speeches, strategist and author Matthew E. May
has given over 100,000 professionals a simple thought exercise, based on a real case far less complex than their routine business problems.
Less than 5% arrive at the elegant solution—the solution which achieves the maximum effect with minimum means. Instead, participants give
remarkably similar responses, each of which can traced to one or more of seven primary cognitive errors.
In this short, practical but enlightening book, May reveals those “seven fatal flaws,” calls on neuroscience and psychology to understand them,
and delivers a super-curated set of the best, field-tested “fixes” for defeating them, drawing on some of the most innovative minds on the planet
as well as his own experience as a lead strategy facilitator and design thinking coach.
the 7 flaws & fixes
Leaping
Satisficing
Leaping to solutions, jumping to conclusions,
or “brainstorming” in an instinctive or
intuitive way almost never leads to an
elegant solution to a complex problem.
Fix: Framestorming—instead of brainstorming
answers and ideas, brainstorming framing
questions that produce better solutions.
Satisficing is Nobel laureate Herbert Simon’s
term for our tendency glom on to solutions
that are easy, obvious, but medicocre, thus
failing to solve our problem.
Fix: Synthesizing — merging the best parts of
two opposing but satisficing solutions in a
mashup that solves the problem elegantly.
Fixation
Downgrading
Fixation is the umbrella term for our deeply
grooved thinking patterns — mental models,
mindsets, biases, assumptions — that can
make it hard for us to “think different.”
Fix: Inversion — completely reversing the
status quo to take our thinking off-road, and
escape the gravitational pull of experience.
Downgrading is a close cousin of satisficing,
a formal revision of a goal in what amounts
to preemptive surrender, simply so that we
can declare victory. No one likes to fail.
Fix: Jumpstarting — effictively rebooting and
redoubling our focus on both our will and
our way in order to push past the stall point.
Overthinking
Not-Invented-Here (NIH)
Overthinking is the art of complicating
matters, and causing problems that weren’t
even there to begin with, which we tend to
do because our brains abhor uncertainty.
Fix: Prototesting — running simple, fast, frugal
tests of prototype concepts and mockup
solutions that are roughly right.
NIH means “If we didn’t come up with it, it
won’t work.” We naturally reject, stifle, and
dismiss ideas simply because we didn’t
think of them.
Fix: Proudly-Found-Elsewhere (PFE) — coined by
Proctor & Gamble, PFE is an open embrace
of others’ innovative thinking.
Self-Censoring
Self-Censoring is the mindless act of rejecting our own ideas, usually out of fear, before they ever see the light of day. It’s the deadliest of the fatal flaws,
because it stifles our own creativity. Fix: Self-distancing — attuning our attention in a mindful way that produces an unbiased perspective.
MATTHEW E. MAY
Matthew E. May is a five-time author and recognized thought leader on strategy
and innovation. A popular speaker, facilitator, and seminar leader, he confidentially
coaches executives, artists, and athletes, and conducts custom thinking sessions for
leading organizations all over the world. His work has appeared in The New York Times,
Strategy+Business, Rotman Management, Fast Company, and Harvard Business Review blogs.
Copyright ©2016 Matthew E. May. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be copied, transmitted, used or stored in any way without prior permission.