This article is a continuation of our series on common leadership blind spots and biases. In this series, we offer practical insights to help leaders recognize and overcome common blind spots that hinder performance, alignment, and growth.
The ancient Greeks observed that the Earth was round around 500 BC. Even accounting for the slow pace of information in ancient times, it took a shockingly long time for the shape of the Earth to become accepted knowledge for everyday people. A thousand years later, when Galileo expanded on Copernicus’ theory that the Earth orbited the sun and was not, in fact, at the center of the universe, his work was met with harsh resistance from religious leaders.
Both cases are examples of a cognitive bias called the conservatism bias, which favors familiarity. It causes us to undervalue — or even dismiss — more recent information in favor of established information.
The second case, that of the backlash to Galileo, is also an example of a common blind spot that can exacerbate — and be exacerbated by — the conservatism bias. It’s called the “I’m right” blind spot, and it’s exactly what it sounds like.
It’s when the need to be right blinds us to valuable new information, and ultimately, holds us back from progress.
As leaders, we can find ourselves playing the part of any of these characters. We can be Galileo, trusting new observations to lead us in exciting new directions, despite the risks. We can be the everyday people, suspicious and hesitant to consider information that would cause us to recalibrate our trusted understanding of the world. Or we can be the medieval church, unwilling — above all else — to risk being wrong.
The risks
The truth is, there’s an inherent risk in accepting the value of new information, especially when it contradicts our previously held position. Beliefs are often sticky for a reason — they’ve worked for us before (see our previous writing on the success bias). So, our current outlook ends up being like a well-established fortress — it can take a lot of new information catapulted over the walls to bring it down.
As leaders, when we aren’t aware of an existing conservatism bias, we put our organizations at risk. We may find ourselves resisting new technologies, ignoring market trends, persisting in failing initiatives, or delaying important decisions. A particularly dangerous mixture is created when we also find ourselves clinging to being right.
Embracing the discomfort
So how can we embrace the discomfort of allowing new information to update our point of view? And how can we avoid actively pushing it away out of fear that it will prove us wrong? We have to overcome the conservatism bias and the “I’m right” blind spot if we want to lead our organizations through the inevitable changes the future promises. And, critically, we must also instill in our individual team members the confidence to avoid both of these impediments to progress.
First, we have to resist creating a “never wrong” culture. As a leader, it’s tempting to want to be the hero who always has the answers, but the truth is that others in our organizations are usually operationally closer to an issue and understand the specifics better than we do. And that’s a good thing. It means we aren’t micromanaging, and we’re allowing expertise to flourish. If we demonstrate an unwillingness to have our minds changed by someone with more specialized knowledge, we are setting the example that changing your mind is not acceptable. When that mindset spreads, we end up with an organization full of people unwilling and afraid to update their thinking.
Second, we need to internalize that change is the only constant. Resilient organizations are those which are open to, and even invite, the inevitable. When the winds of change blow, being mired in a conservatism bias or a need to be right can cause us to equate the need to adjust course as tantamount to an admission that we were reading the map upside down all along. Being change-aware means knowing that this is not the case. Obviously, it’s almost guaranteed that no single plan will be best suited to all conditions. When we and our teams are brave enough to regularly lift our eyes to the horizon and watch for signs of change, we can be proud when we’re ready for, and open to, what comes next.
Third, we need to celebrate responsible risk-taking. This begins by fostering a safe space for failure and for being wrong. As leaders, we can do this by being willing to share both our successes and failures, and by highlighting the lessons we’ve learned through our failures. We can heed the words of Oscar Trimboli, author of “How to Listen”, who defines listening simply as the willingness to have your mind changed. We can also define what responsible risk means by developing guidelines for evaluating new ideas along with a system for performing post-mortems to constructively review what was learned instead of assigning blame when an initiative doesn’t pan out.
Lastly, we must encourage collaboration and risk-free idea-sharing. We can make sure there are diverse perspectives at the table by building cross-functional teams. And we can provide regular opportunities for exchanging ideas and brainstorming without judgment
Looking through the lens
When Galileo turned his telescope to the heavens, he didn’t know what he would see, how his discoveries would change our understanding of the world, or how they would impact the rest of his life. But he looked anyway. He risked his reputation and his life to seek new information, welcoming whatever new reality it brought with it.
When a leader succumbs to the conservatism bias and the need to be right, it spreads throughout the entire organization, causing everyone to narrow their thinking, keep their head down, and focus on preserving their current “rightness”.
But when we invite new information to change our minds — when we trade our need to be right in favor of a desire to discover what comes next, however scary it may seem, we can build organizations that are truly ready to take on tomorrow.
Let’s be willing to gaze into the unknown. It might just change everything.