Lesson Learned #21
We have a training session about problem solving that uses an interesting deception. We show a paragraph that describes a young charismatic leader of a nation facing a tough decision. You have to guess who the words are describing. With a few historical and personal story elements it is very easy to figure out that it is John F. Kennedy, which everyone latches onto halfway through the exercise.
The deception is that it isn’t John F. Kennedy, it’s actually Adolf Hitler. The circumstances and surrounding elements between the two turn out to be quite similar. The exercise demonstrates our tendency to jump to conclusions too quickly and once we do, we exclude alternatives. Apparently our innate shortcuts help us navigate day-to-day living but get the better of us when it comes to thinking about things analytically. The exercise has demonstrated this point brilliantly every time we’ve used it, except once.
We were doing some work for The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company and they asked us to train some of their European Quality Managers in Istanbul. The session was going well and we got to the problem solving exercise. After the paragraph was shown, a fairly bold and dramatic, “Who is this person?” appeared on screen. The answer it provoked may be remembered as one of the more confusing moments in the history of Carpedia training. While we patiently anticipated the usual wrong answer, the quality managers looked at each other a little awkwardly and said, virtually in unison, “That sounds a little like Adolf Hitler.”
There were a few additional grumblings about whether Adolf Hitler was an appropriate leader to showcase and certainly whether “charismatic” was an appropriate description to use. Not a single person saw the description as John F. Kennedy, even after it was explained how the exercise was supposed to play out.
There were a couple lessons learned in this. The first was simply to be more aware of how important personal context is for people. It was an interesting example of how regional and cultural bias affects how things are perceived. The second was to think through what you plan to present and be cognizant of potential sensitivities. The exercise works in North America because people jump to the conclusion it is Kennedy, a perceived good guy. The fact that it is Hitler, a perceived evil guy, makes the error more dramatic. But it doesn’t work in reverse.
