"Lying to ourselves is more deeply ingrained than lying to others."
~ Fyodor Dostoyevsky

Civilisation change skillful Carolyn Taylor told me this story, about a senior executive who didn't similar bad news. When he heard bad news he had a tendency to shoot the messenger. Over time, people started keeping bad news to themselves. They would sugar-coat their messages or conceal data that might upset the boss. When he came to Carolyn for help, can you guess how he described the problem?

Hither'southward what he said: "I don't feel like I know what's going on in my organization. People are not keeping me in the loop, and they are hiding information from me." He didn't realize — at least, not at first — that his behavior was causing the very problem he wanted to solve. He had a very big blind spot.

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The Johari window is a framework developed by ii psychologists named Joe and Harry (Really!) as an aid for understanding the self. Information technology's a not bad tool for Liminal Thinking. You lot can imagine it as a building with 4 rooms.

Ane room is open. This represents things that both you and others know nigh you. For case, this might include your chore title, your pilus color, and and then on. You might say this is the "public" you.

Another room is hidden. This represents things you know about yourself that others don't know. This might include feelings that you don't share, or other things you conceal from others. This is the "individual" you.

Another room is unknown. This represents the things that you lot don't know nearly yourself, and neither does anyone else. You may accept feelings that you are not aware of, or you may be capable of things yous don't know you are capable of. This is the "unknown" you lot.

The last room is your bullheaded spot. This represents the things that others tin can meet near you, but that you are unaware of. Maybe people see you as pushy only don't tell y'all. This is the public self that you are unaware of.

These blind spots tin be crippling to your effectiveness.

It's very like shooting fish in a barrel to see problems and logical inconsistencies in other people. It's very hard to run into them in yourself.

This illusion of objectivity is often particularly acute in senior leaders, because in that location'southward a tendency for people to tell them what they want to hear.

Many problems that senior leaders almost want to solve are, at least partially, and ordinarily unconsciously, caused past their ain beliefs. So if yous have a persistent trouble that keeps popping upward and seems intractable, start by bold that you lot are not objective.

Call back about it. If you lot care enough to attempt to solve a problem, then it matters to y'all. If it matters to yous, information technology must bear upon yous in some style. If it affects you lot strongly, that means that you are probably not outside the problem. You are inside of information technology. You're a part of it, probably in ways you are not fully enlightened of.

Then often, nosotros try to solve bug equally if we are exterior them. When people describe a problem yous volition often run across them pointing away from themselves. Y'all volition hear the word "them" a lot. That'southward because "they" are seen every bit the problem. But in most cases, "they" are merely one office of the problem. The problems that most resist solutions are system issues. In a system problem, if you're office of the system, y'all're role of the problem.

Your biggest blind spot is yourself.

If you are not willing to look at your own contributions and inputs to the situation as role of the problem, you won't be able to see it conspicuously. Your understanding will be distorted and so will your beliefs.

Liminal Thinking Principle:
Presume you are non objective. If you lot're part of the organization, you're office of the problem.

Practise:
Download this List of character traits (PDF). Impress a few copies of the list and give it to a few close friends that you trust. Now go down the listing and check all the traits that you call up utilize to y'all. Take your friends exercise the same (traits that apply to you, not them). You lot can also share this neat online class created by Shiri Dori. Then compare the lists. Traits that evidence up on your list merely not any of theirs are Subconscious. Traits that show upwards on yours and theirs both are Open. Those traits that show up on their lists simply not yours are Bullheaded Spots. Traits that show up on none of the lists are potential Unknowns. Make a big drawing of Johari Window and fill in the traits. What insights does it requite you?