Seek the Truth
"The truth will set you free, but first it will make you miserable." James A. Garfield
I was wrong about the Hummingbirds. The birds that build a nest at my doorway are not Hummingbirds; they are Malaysian Olive-backed Sunbirds. Sunbirds drink nectar and can hover in the air like hummingbirds, but they are different species, pretty much like alligators vs. crocodiles. Hummingbirds hover over the flowers when drinking nectar and Sunbirds perch on the flowers, only hovering occasionally in flight. Hummingbirds are distributed in the North and South American continents, and Sunbirds are in the rest of the world.
My mistake of Sunbird as Hummingbird is my ignorance and lack of knowledge. This is the exact reason that in Organic Learning Organization, we have a key principle: “Seek the Truth”. It is very important to differentiate that “seeking the truth” is not the same as “being right”. On the contrary, seeking the truth means accepting that we could be wrong.
Many thoughts leaders have shared and taught us the importance of seeking the truth.
“The Fifth Discipline - The Art & Practice of the Learning Organization” by Peter Senge
understand the Creative Tension by seeking to clarify the current reality and goal
Senge recommends ‘reflective openness’ instead of ‘participative openness’ which is “inadequate to generate the commitment and shared understanding needed for real change”
“Principles” by Ray Dalio
Radical truth (and radical transparency)
Tweet storm by Naval Ravikant
one can listen to the Podcast or YouTube about Naval Ravikant interviews or read the compilation of notes in “Almanack of Naval Ravikant” by Eric Jorgenson
“The real truths are heresies. They cannot be spoken. Only be discovered, whispered, and perhaps read.”
“Truth is that which has predictive power.”
Socrates
The Socratic Method to seek self-knowledge and the truth
Plato
Lao Tze
“为学日益，为道日损“ 《道德经》
Scholars pursuing knowledge must accumulate knowledge; those seeking the truth must reduce personal biases.
Are we ready to get into the rabbit hole by taking the red pill? Movie buffs will get this.
[Image credit Bing Image Creator] “Remember, all I am offering is the truth, nothing more.” - Morpheus, The Matrix.
Use Cases of Seek the Truth
The practice of this principle (seek the truth) is a discipline in Organic Learning Organization. It can be practiced in daily meetings, discussions, analysis, problem-solving, strategic planning, etc.
Problem definition (used in ideation for solutions)
issue tree
differentiate symptoms from causes
differentiate sufferings from pains
Goal definition
clear vision and milestones (‘what’)
knowing ‘why’ you need or want it
differentiate wants from needs
Current reality
knowing where you are
knowing what you have (strength, resources)
knowing what you lack (weakness, resources)
Knowing what stops you
Knowing potential risks toward your goal
Knowing what help and external resources you need
Knowing my current state of mind and conditions (how are you)
Mental models
my mental model
others’ mental model
Clarity about the mental model allows us to see the potential structure that forms the pattern of behavior and leads to the seemingly individual incident or event (refer to the Systems Thinking - Iceberg Model)
“I know that I know nothing.” - Socrates
Blind spots
Allow the side mirrors or cameras to reflect blind spot views to the driver.
Aware of our cognitive biases and our mental models.
Agree to disagree (Team Learning)
IDS is a tool practiced by Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS); for more information, can refer to the book Traction by Gino Wickman (I suggest that you also read Verne Harnish's book Scaling Up (you can quickly see a considerable overlapping of their concepts because Wickman used to work under Harnish before he started EOS). Both books are helpful in guiding businesses on how to build systems, and both cover how to seek the truth when the team faces harsh issues. IDS is a 3-step process for discussing issues during the L10 meeting.
(1) Identify
(2) Discuss
(3) Solve
Idea Meritocracy - “A system that brings together smart, independent thinkers and has them productively disagree to come up with the best possible collective thinking and resolve their disagreements in a believability-weighted way”, Ray Dalio. Check out this brilliant presentation by Ray Dalio, and you will have a sneak peek into Bridgewater’s Dot Collector and Baseball Card tools.
Openness is essential. Peter Senge devoted chapter 13 of his book “The Fifth Discipline” stressing the importance of reflective openness. Openness is a critical ingredient for the quality of relationships in an organization. This echoes Ray Dalio’s principle about meaningful work, meaning relationships by radical truth and transparency.
The Dark Side of Learning the Truth
Not everyone is ready to expose their weaknesses or even admit their own weaknesses. It is a very uncomfortable experience, but it is part of the price to pay if we wish to live an authentic life.
If the team or company culture is “command and control” instead of “trust and inspire,” the team members are not ready for team learning by practicing radical truth and radical transparency. This is dangerous and easily backfired. A trusted environment serves like a greenhouse where every member has been coached with the ‘seek the truth’ discipline (principles and practices).
Be ready to face your inner child for having a defense reaction when exposing personal weakness or overturning existing beliefs. Throughout history, we have seen people not open to accepting better or different versions of the truth as the leading cause of many avoidable tragedies. Giordana Burno (~1600) was burnt to death for suggesting that the Earth revolves around the sun; that idea was against the religious doctrine of the era (the Earth was the center of the universe). Galileo was put on house arrest for similar astronomical research.
Even in the 20th century, after scientists sent people to the moon, the same inability to accept radical truth continues. One example is how Alan Turing (1954) was also put on house arrest for another reason that killed off one of the best discoveries of the century, and the more tragic Boris Belousov’s discovery of Belousov-Zhabotinsky reaction, Belousov was denied by the scientific community that his discovery was not science, hence not fit for publication. Here is an excellent documentary showing the resistance to accepting the Chaos Theory.
Side note: “The Imitation Game” (2014) starring Benedict Cumberbatch as Alan Turing. The focal point was decoding Enigma as the father of modern computer science. Still, the greatest genius Turing gave to mankind is his paper, which led to the Chaos Theory we know today.
I just finished watching the first part of the trilogy, the award-winning Chinese novel “The Three-Body Problem” 三体. I read the novel and I think the drama series tried their very best, however, the acting and special effect animation could be improved. The point I want to share is that Galileo, Alan Turing, Einsteins etc. appear in the first part of the story inside the simulation game. This novel has many stories about mental models, seeking the truth etc. Highly recommended, a rare Sci-fi Chinese Novel with great breadth and depth.
“You can’t handle the truth!” - Colonel Jessup in “A Few Good Men” played by Jack Nicholson
Techniques to Seek the Truth
“May the force be with you.” - Star Wars
May the lightsaber pierces through the darkness and give us the silver lining to see the truth.
[image credit Bing Image Creator] “No, I am your father.” - Darth Vader (The Empire Strikes Back).
Asking questions
Let questions do the heavy lifting
the open question tends to work better in the discovery phase
self-reflection
inquiry others using dialogue
This is probably the hardest to practice but the most essential skill for team learning to bloom in an organic learning organization
It is both an art and a learnable skill (personal mastery) to have open dialogue with the common goal of seeking the truth without evoking the “defensive routines” coined by Chris Argyris.
Visual Structural Thinking (VST)
framework with best practice structure or model
Design Thinking
Systems Thinking e.g. Iceberg Model, Causal Loop
Sailboat Retrospectives, After Action Review
brain dump thinking process onto paper or tool to provide better clarity
collaborate with others on tangible (visual thinking), avoid discussion on thin air
Weekly Learnings
For those of you following the
HummingbirdSunbird story, one of the chicks has taken its first flight, leaving the smaller siblings in the nest. I watched it struggle with short flights and eventually make it to the taller tree.I am experiencing electricity browning, visible from the flickering light and sudden offline broadband service. Then things worsened when half of my house power supply experienced power trips (4 times in 3 days). I could resume the power supply by flipping back the fuse connection until one fine morning. My entire house has little power (very different from no power) because it can hardly light up a small LED light. I called the power utility contractor to open up the main power supply at the electricity meter and confirmed the neutral power cable was toasted.
This was the second time. The last incident was last year, when the red line was burnt below the meter, and TNB (utility contractor) said that was not their responsibility; it was the property developer’s.
This time, the neutral cable burn was a few centimeters above the connection, and TNB replaced a new cable without charging innocent consumers.
The lesson learned was where the power cable short matters. :)
