{"id":179,"date":"2011-05-30T07:45:08","date_gmt":"2011-05-30T11:45:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ohe.5c7.myftpupload.com\/?p=179"},"modified":"2011-10-15T00:00:45","modified_gmt":"2011-10-15T04:00:45","slug":"disconfirming-evidence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/inourrightmind.com\/?p=179","title":{"rendered":"Disconfirming evidence"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\"\"<\/a>\u00a0One of my clients recently attended a course urging him to listen for and be attentive to \u201cdisconfirming information.\u201d He was struck by that phrase, probably because the head of his organization operates at the other end of the continuum: she only wants to hear evidence that supports her current point of view.<\/p>\n

I first learned about disconfirming evidence from Meg Wheatley, author of Leadership and the New Science<\/a>,<\/em> who talks about how living systems grow and change as a result of dis<\/em>equilibrium, not equilibrium. Think about it. When are you more likely to grow: when everything you encounter is just mirroring what you already know, like the woman my client reports to, or when something new and different drops into your world?<\/p>\n

How we respond to being thrown off balance varies with how much is at risk. When we\u2019ve got nothing to lose, \u2018disequilibrium\u2019 can be exciting and even entertaining [think suspenseful or scary movies or roller coasters]. When we\u2019ve put our competence or reputation or worth as a human being on the line, then being off balance feels much more threatening.<\/p>\n

When we ignore disconfirming information\u2014information that\u2019s not consistent with our \u201creality\u201d\u2014we deprive ourselves of important moments: flashes of insight, opportunities to learn, breath-taking aha\u2019s<\/em> that open us to a bigger reality. When we\u2019re in leadership roles and ignore disconfirming evidence, we have the double risk of both becoming and being surrounded by head nodders. We don\u2019t have to reach far to find organizations that collapsed as a result of executives who rejected disconfirming information\u2014even ones that we all thought were \u201ctoo big to fail\u201d [see Andrew Sorkin’s book<\/a> or the film version airing right now on HBO<\/a>\u2026].<\/p>\n

Our capacity to adapt\u2014to grow and evolve\u2014comes from being open and receptive to whatever life\u2019s throwing at us, whether we like it or not. And we can\u2019t be open if our minds are locked in a set of beliefs or expectations that we never examine. How do we know when we\u2019re staring at disconfirming evidence?<\/p>\n