design your life by unlocking leadership mindtraps
At RFN, we talk a lot about VUCA – volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity. In part, this is because we often work with clients who express feeling blindsided by major changes and it’s a useful, sense-making tool. We also believe acknowledging the unpredictability and ever-changing nature of our current world is the essential first step in handling it. How can we work out a solution to a problem we can’t admit exists?
For those interested in excelling in complex environments, RFN team member John Lazar recommends Jennifer Garvey Berger’s book, Unlocking Leadership Mindtraps – How to Thrive in Complexity. Berger’s mission while writing this book was to condense thousands of hours’ worth of meeting notes and decades of peer-reviewed journals into a streamlined, accessible manual on how to adapt to complexity. What John especially likes about Berger’s approach is the way she highlights something often hidden to us: the way we think about our thinking.
Berger believes we can intentionally redesign our instincts, suited “for an older, less connected, and more predictable version of the world,” and make them work for the highly connected and unpredictable one unfolding around us. In so doing, we become more resilient to the unexpected and improve our ability to effectively solve problems and relate to others.
In summarizing her research, Berger realized there are specific ways we tend to be misled by our outdated instincts when faced with complexity. Thousands of years of evolution have left us with a biology that is “part cognitive bias, part neurological quirk, part adaptive response to a simple world that doesn’t exist anymore.” This is the definition of a mindtrap, of which there are five:
1. Trapped by simple stories: your desire for a simple story blinds you to the real one
2. Trapped by rightness: just because it feels right doesn’t mean it is right
3. Trapped by agreement: longing for alignment robs you of good ideas
4. Trapped by control: trying to take charge strips you of influence
5. Trapped by ego: shackled to who you are now, you can’t reach for who you’ll be next
Even at a glance, it’s clear how often each of these can ensnarl and distort our perceptions. When we’re dealing with simple situations, there is a degree of predictability we can rely on – the past can help us understand and shape the future. But once we cross the boundary into the complex, the world is no longer knowable and therefore the tools and thought processes at our disposal are a poor fit for the circumstances we find ourselves in.
Take the first one, trapped by simple stories, for example. John particularly likes this one because it speaks to how we unintentionally delete and distort information. Without recognizing this, we fail to see how often we are the author of those impoverished stories. One-liners cannot capture the nuance or richness of reality and our repeated mischaracterization of things and people lulls us into a false sense of certainty of how they work. Using engaging, relatable anecdotes, Berger illustrates familiar complexities and provides actionable advice for readers wanting to learn how to unlock and sidestep mindtraps.
Unlocking Leadership Mindtraps is not just for the discerning leader or business owner looking to become more effective. It’s for anyone interested in adopting incredibly useful life skills. Managing yourself well, listening with intention, leading with self-awareness and non-judgement – these abilities are applicable for everyone, in every context.
John Lazar is an RFN contributor and educator with over 35 years of experience. He specializes in coaching and performance consulting and successfully helps leaders and their teams shift mindsets, align values, develop more effective practices and improve results. According to him, this book reminds us that “we’re either engaged in virtuous spirals or viscous cycles; there is no neutral. We have choices to make, and we need to be awake at the helm of our life.”