Knowledge, Belief, Representation and Idea

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From the course by CentraleSupélec

On Strategy : What Managers Can Learn from Philosophy - PART 1

390 ratings

CentraleSupélec

On Strategy : What Managers Can Learn from Philosophy - PART 1

390 ratings

In the expression “creative thinking”, the keyword is not creativity; the keyword is thinking. With the help of great philosophers, you will rediscover the art of thinking. To help leaders to be rigorous even without figures, great philosophers have lots of ideas. Managers are invited to rediscover the art of thinking. They should understand the role of mental models, realize the importance of cognitive bias, agree on clear definitions and efficient criteria etc. Creativity demands the ability to unshackle ourselves from conventional ways of thinking, to "think outside the box". But we need to go a step further. Once outside the box, we need to construct a new box or boxes (that is, new intellectual frameworks or models) to help us structure our thinking. Only once we have done so can we generate truly game-changing ideas.

From the lesson

How do we Think ?

In the first lecture, we’ve seen that if we want to change the world, we have to act. And if we want to change our perception of the world, we have to think. So now… it is time to think about the way we think !

You can not Think About your Clients ! 6:33

To Think is Like to Play : Playground, Rules,… 5:20

Concepts are Simplifications5:35

Perfect Deduction, Possible. Perfect Induction, Impossible9:09

The Power of Analogy and the Black Swan 10:56

Knowledge, Belief, Representation and Idea 9:05

Meet the Instructors

Luc de Brabandere
Professor at Ecole Centrale Paris

[BLANK_AUDIO]

You have models everywhere.

When you work, when you think, you use models.

You have models in mathematics, of course, you have

models in physics, in science they are called theory.

But there are models.

You have model in psychology like the MBTI, or what

I said about left and right brain, it's a model.

It's all about simplifications.

You have models in philosophy.

A lot of models.

Plato, Aristotle, Kant, they all build design, proposed models.

Models is the, the, the brick of the thinking.

It's the element, it's what you use all the time.

My goal is to explain how we can be more creative, how strategy, etc etc.

So, the way I will organize and classify models is a bit different.

Not better than another one.

Just, I hope, useful.

So, let's take this matrix, you remember?

You can organize models in to start with two dimensions.

Dimension number one is, are the models permanent?

Are they resistant to change?

Do they last more than a year or two?

That's one dimension.

And the other one, also important to me, are they under control?

Under control, is something.

It means did you decide to build the model in your mind or it's there, simply.

Now I have the matrix, and you know as a consultant we like matrix.

So, let's put some names on the, on the four quadrants.

Quadrant number one, so the upper left, you have models, you

decide to implement and they are there for a long period of time.

It's called knowledge.

If you have studied accounting, of chemistry, or what

you want, everything you study, it's a decision you take,

it's a simplify, you organize, but it's there for a

long period of time, and we can call this knowledge.

The second quadrant on the left, but below, is a bit different.

Strong, resistant, really

they are permanent, but you never decide really to implement.

It's just there.

So, it's the world of beliefs, of beliefs, values, religions.

Those are strong simplifications.

If you don't know exactly where they do

come from, but it plays a role, defin, definitely.

What's a value?

Again, we need a clear definition.

Let's propose this one.

A value is an idea you have that something should, and I like this definition

because it's simple, it's brilliant because it means we can disagree on value.

You think that, I think that, we simply disagree.

But this quadrant plays a role, of course, because they are mental models,

strong resistance and they influence the others.

Number three, if you go this way, the bottom right hand side you have

a region non-permanent and not under control.

This is the world of representations.

Probably number one and two knowledge and believes

okay your family, your but representation, that's exactly.

Those are mental models.

Very fragile.

Five minutes ago, they were not there, two minutes from now they want to disappear.

But, mental models we build all the time to

explain ourselves what we have in front of us.

To give some coherence, some sense to this,

the landscape what you have in front of you.

In front of you in a restaurant.

There is a table nearby with four persons.

Whether you decide or not, you will try to understand who's who.

He must be the boss, he must, you give an

explanation to yourself, and it's not possible not to do it.

Let's take another example.

You listen to the radio and you hear, this company has purchased this company.

Immediately, you explain to yourself why, with your explanation.

yes.

You have course this man, this product, it must happen.

You explain to yourself.

This is called representation, and it's very important to

realize how, how powerful they are in the thinking process.

Number four, as a quadrant, you have on the right of

the side, you have, of course, the world we are in now.

With you.

For the next lectures too, the world of finance.

It's the world.

It's like the workings of, the working area.

That's where we process, we think, we look, we test, we try.

We...

It's like a lab.

It's a lab for new models.

It's there where you look for new strategies and you're looking for it.

It's a lab.

Maybe the better definition, it's a lab.

And of course, the goal is when for a lab to produce

a [SOUND] concept somebody, and given time everybody accepts,

and at that time it goes to the other side of

the axis and it becomes knowledge and strategy and so forth.

So it's just my way to organize the world of models.

But you will see in the next lectures,

how, and why this, the number three, the representations,

are so important, because, in a way, they

are really relevant when you talk about cognitive bias.

In the black swan, I haven't mentioned.

But you have cognitive bias.

What's a cognitive bias?

You have dozens of books on cognitive bias in

the two last years about why our genius sometimes wrong.

And the book of Canaman, fast thinking and slow thinking, you have dozens of books.

They all about cognitive bias.

What is a cognitive bias?

It's like a piece of reasoning which will

tend to believe it is strong, and it's not.

And cognitive bias are explained a lot by representation.

But I will say that in more details in the lecture number four.

So, it's enough for today.

Let's summarize.

Let's summarize.

Probably, and at the same time, let's connect

this lecture number two to the lecture number one.

What is missing on this, on the, on the, on the visual?

This.

And that.

And now it's completed.

Now it's completed.

The world, and I've mentioned that in

the lecture one, the world changed continuously.

But on our side we are, as a thinker, we go on a discontinuous model.

So, the challenge for a CEO, for a CEO is this particular step.

Let's imagine a perfect company.

Where everybody works perfectly.

The question, what's the role of the CEO?

Not nothing.

Because the world is changing, the CEO has to answer two questions.

What is the next big idea, and when should we move from the old one to the new one?

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