Ah, another good one by Kathy over at Creating Passionate Users, reminded me that I have this small but useful filter I try to apply:
The more I hear that something is the rule, the truth - the more I’m convinced it’s not so.
Here's why:
Every day I encounter some ‘truth’; a typical way-of-doing-things, a 80/20 rule, an age old saying, a business-man’s-wisdom.
Then, my gut feeling (I'm male, females use intuition - gut feeling is sooo much more macho) hints that something about that statement is not-quite-right.
But pursuing that hunch has repercussions, at least a retraction of peer strokes, the stuff I’m so dependent on. So I choose to howl with the wolves and repeat. And I get those nods, those strokes, those signals that I’m a smart chap.
But the hunch will not go away. That alarm-bell-in-the-stomach is still ringing.
I throw more blankets over it, I hush it down - I repeat the message - get more nods, feel safe, repeat, repeat. Till no more alarm bell can be heard.
Rules and truths-of-the-moment I hear all the time, could it be active blanketing of alarm bells? Obvious stuff nobody bothers to repeat, that would be too banal, who needs to repeat those?
That’s why I should be suspicious.
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