I’m a self-awareness junkie. I’ve spent a crazy amount of time trying to figure out why I think the way I do, how those thoughts shape my life, and how to do it better.
I’ve even got my own little self-help toolkit to keep me on the straight and narrow.
With all this obsession, I still suffer from the universal affliction: an overdeveloped sense of being right (confirmation bias).
In my pursuit of correctness, I sometimes contradict my carefully crafted self-image as a great listener, a loving husband, and an all-round good egg.
Just the other day, for example, I was chatting with my wife about an investment property I was excited about.
She had some doubts: but I wasnโt having it.
In my infinite wisdom, I shut her down, stopped listening, and justified my point of view.
Who dares doubt my correctness? Doesnโt she see how amazing I am? What Iโve done for this family? Oh man, it was a spiral.
Instead of showing up as ‘enlightened guy’, I turned into a caveman, swinging my proverbial club, defending my correctness.
Me right, you wrong: grunt.
We all do it at some level: defend the things that make us feel good and ignore, or reject, the things that push us out of our comfort zone. It’s a simple, hedonistic human formula.
๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ฒโ๐ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐๐ต๐ถ๐ป๐ด, ๐ผ๐๐ฟ ๐ฐ๐ผ๐บ๐ฝ๐ฎ๐ป๐ถ๐ฒ๐ ๐ฑ๐ผ ๐ถ๐ ๐๐ผ๐ผ.
Todayโs local business headlines reads โSnack food producer cuts $2Billion in debt as it restructures through bankruptcy.โ
First off, TWO BILLION DOLLARS IN DEBT? What theโฆ
How on earth does a company get two billion dollars in debt? Thatโs another story.
What’s fascinating is that the same confirmation bias that plays out between my ears also afflicts organizations. Hereโs what I mean.
This bankrupt food company has a code of ethics, posted promptly on its website: ๐๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ช๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ ๐ข๐ค๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฆ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ค๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐บ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด๐ช๐ฃ๐ญ๐บ ๐ช๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ณ๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฅ๐ฐ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ช๐ด ๐ข ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ช๐ฐ๐ณ๐ช๐ต๐บ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ญ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ค๐ต๐ช๐ท๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ด๐ช๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด๐ฆ๐ด.
Sounds great, right? I bet from the CEO down, they believe they are acting ethically, responsibly, and doing the right thing.
Yet here they are, defaulting on two billion dollars. Those who lent money to the company will sustain huge losses.
Not sure how acting responsibly and then defaulting on two billion in debt align with each other.
A quick google search reveals more: A New York Times article highlighting how this company is also in violation of child labor laws, hiring underaged and undocumented employees.
A company committed to ethical and responsible practices that violates child labor laws and amasses 2 billion in debt that it defaults on?
Does being right make you a monster?
Maybe those opinions aren’t always gold, or bronze. Sometimes, they’re justโฆ worthless rocks we’re stubbornly clinging to.
Replace being right with listening and you might find the monster becomes a saint.