GALLUS BOOK CLUB - NOT KNOWING
OUR TAKE ON ‘NOT KNOWING - THE ART OF TURNING UNCERTAINTY INTO OPPORTUNITY’ BY STEVEN D’SOUZA AND DIANA RENNER EVERY MONTH THE GALLUS BOOK CLUB EXPLORES A TOPICAL, RELEVANT BOOK THAT, ON FACE VALUE, COULD INFORM THINKING, SPARK SOME DEBATE AND GENERATE IDEAS AMONGST OUR MEMBERS. We live in interesting times; levels of volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity are extraordinarily high. Many of our GALLUS BOOK CLUB members are tasked with leading organisations, functions and or transformation programmes in an ever-changing environmental context and are faced with ‘not knowing’ on a regular basis – ‘not knowing’ therefore has a broad relevance.
“WE HAVE LEARNED THAT THE PAST WILL BE A POOR GUIDE TO THE FUTURE AND THAT WE SHALL FOREVER BE DEALING WITH ANTICIPATED EVENTS. GIVEN THAT SCENARIO, ORGANISATIONS WILL NEED INDIVIDUALS WHO DELIGHT IN THE UNKNOWN” Charles Handy
It’s fair to say that this book is different; it’s a journey. It becomes apparent very quickly that the authors have recognised the trap they might have fallen into and have avoided it well. It would be easy to provide a model of how to behave when faced with ‘not knowing’, but instead, the authors take you on a journey (with a level of structure) that takes you to the edge of ‘not knowing’ through quotes, vignettes and thought provoking questions. “THIS BOOK, HONOURING AND LEGITIMISING THE SPACE OF NOT KNOWING IS THE WORK OF LIBERATORS NOT LUDDITES, FREEING US TO INNOVATE, ADAPT, AND ADDRESS THE COMPLEXITY, AMBIGUITY AND UNCERTAINTY OF LIFE IN THE 21ST CENTURY WITH CURIOSITY, EMPATHY AND, YES, THE COURAGE TO WITHSTAND THE RESISTANCE OF THOSE WHO DESPERATELY HOLD ON TO THE ILLUSION THAT CURRENT KNOWLEDGE CAN SOLVE THE MOST VEXING PROBLEMS” Martin Linsky of
Harvard
With this in mind, and in order not to ruin your experience when you read the book (which you really should), our summary this month purely captures the ideas at a very high level. We urge you to embark on your personal journey of ‘not knowing’ ….. Here we present the HIGH LEVEL IDEAS to whet your appetite.....
PART ONE - THE DANGERS OF KNOWLEDGE 1. ADAPTIVE ORGANISATIONAL LEARNING Why we should beware of the ‘illusion of knowledge’....
1. Knowledge is powerful
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2. The allure of the unknown
3. Overconfidence Blinkers
4. Limits of specialisation
creates re-enforcement rather than new learning
“overconfident professionals sincerely believe they have expertise, act as experts and look like experts. You will have to struggle to remind yourself that thay may be in the grip of an illusion” Daniel Kahneman
can impair fresh thinking about complex problems. there’s a need to reframe the challenge and knowledge can stop us doing this.
5. Willful Blindness
6. The pretence of knowledge
Margaret Heffernan has written a book on this subject alone
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