Coaching and consulting services can be appropriately and effectively used in addressing this polarity through encouragement and even facilitation) of the slow, reflective thinking that is described and advocated by behavioral economists – particularly Daniel Kahneman (2011). Slow thinking incorporates both clarity of mind (identifying and setting aside biases and sloppy heuristics) and open-mindedness (consideration of alternative perspectives, practices and options). In the midst of pervasive anxiety associated with Complexity (and the other aspects of VUCA-Plus), it is critical that thinking and decision-making slow down. The polarity between clear and open mindedness can be effectively managed with the use of tools offered by Kahneman and his colleagues (Kahneman, 2011; Kahneman, Sibony and Sunstein, 2021).
The Search for Simplicity
As I have already noted, there is a strong, widespread push for simplicity in our life. This push is aided in mid-21st Century by the media that we consumed. We ask other people at work to “give it to us in bullet points.” We want to know the ten keys to success or the seven steps to take on the journey to health (or even happiness). We want sound bites when we pick up the news on our handheld device or even when we are viewing our evening news on cable TV. “Tell me what I need to know and how I solve the problems I am facing. Make it fast and digestible.” This demand for simple information and simple solutions is particularly prevalent when Angst is swapping the country or at least invading our workplace or household.
This search for simple, easily digestible views of reality is actually not new. It goes back to at least the world of Ancient Greece and the insights offered by Plato in his parable of the cave. According to Plato, we are all living in a cave and never gain a clear view of reality. Instead, we view the shadows that are projected on the walls of the cave. We live with an image of reality (shadows on the wall of the cave) rather than with reality itself. Plato notes that we have no basis for knowing whether we are seeing the shadow or seeing reality, given that we have always lived in the cave.
Plato thus speaks to us from many centuries past about the potential fallacy to be found in our search for simplicity in 21st Century societies. Most importantly, in our search we can never know whether we are living in the cave or living in the world of reality outside the cave. It gets more complex. Today, we live with an expanded cast of characters in the cave. First, there is something or someone standing near the opening of the cave. There are narratives and perspectives that serve as partitions which block out some of the light coming into the cave. These partitions are cultural or personal narratives that we meet with every day. Not only don’t we actually see reality, there is something that determines which parts of objective reality gain access to the cave and are projected onto the wall. Those holding the partition have grown up in the cave; however, they may hold a quite different agenda from ourself and other cave dwellers. They may even control the media in our mid-21st Century world.
There is yet another character in our contemporary cave. This is the reporter or analyst. We actually don’t have enough time in our busy lives to look directly at the wall to see the shadows that are projected on the wall from the “real” world. The cave has grown very large and we often can’t even see the walls of the cave and the shadows. We wait for reporter to tell us what is being projected on the wall and for the analyst to tell us what the implications of these images are for us in our lives. At times, we might even turn to historians of the cave to trace out wall image patterns and trends. Our reports and analysts—even our historians–share their interpretations in sound bits. We are thus removed three steps from reality.
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