November 2024 Peripheral Thinkers™ Newsletter
November 15, 2024
ALOHA, Peripheral Thinkers™!
You, the Peripheral Thinkers™ community, represent more than 25 countries, 30+ industries, and many backgrounds. And if you’ve read my posts and newsletters or heard a few minutes of my keynotes, you know...
“You can access everything you need to achieve anything you can imagine.”
However, only some see the options you see. Only some people know what they need to achieve their desired outcome or how to sort through all the options to find the best fit.
Whether you see too many or too few options, this edition is for you…
Because your options are killing your growth.
Let's see how and what to do about it...
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Peripheral Perspective –
Your Options are Killing Your Growth
I’ve posed this question to audiences and business leaders for years…
“Do you have unlimited or limited options for your company’s growth?”
The results often begin weighted toward unlimited. Most people want to be seen as optimistic. When I support those who believe their options are limited, some of the optimists begin to agree. The hedging begins, followed by Qualifying Questions about the definition of limited, unlimited, and growth ring out.
Then the inevitable…
“...THAT DEPENDS…”
We spend a few minutes fleshing out what their answers ‘depend’ upon.
We reach a little consensus, but the correct Qualifying Question remains elusive.
Image Credit: Image Creator
I’ll tell you a secret, but you must promise not to share it if you attend one of my future keynotes, workshops, or leadership groups.
Do you agree? Okay.
To date, nobody has qualified their answer by first asking, “Are there better options for growth that I don’t know about?
Image Credit: Image Creator
Too Many Options
Never in history has there been more access to information. You are flooded daily with solutions, ideas, and options.
Some options are easily dismissed, but you must consider them… if even for a moment. Those moments add up.
You probably don’t experience this, and it’s just me… But wow, I get a ton of emails, DMs, texts, and InMails with options to solve my problems.
According to Harvard Business Review, “the average CEO receives a significant portion of irrelevant emails each day… 50-70% of their daily emails…”
The concept of ‘choice overload’ suggests that individuals may pause or make suboptimal choices when presented with too many options. “Paralysis By Analysis.” Knee Jerk Reaction.” Each phrase is a simplified view of the business contexts in which leaders must navigate complex information landscapes to identify relevant options that address their needs.
Image Credit: Image Creator
The plentiful nature of options is, perhaps, too plentiful.
Too Few Options
The other side of the options coin is scarcity. Some believe that they lack viable options to achieve their objectives.
Image Credit: Image Creator
How can that be when others are overwhelmed with options overload?
Some see so many options (like looking at bright lights for too long) that they become option-blind. They could have one million options within arm’s reach, but they can’t see them.
Alternatively, some business leaders simply can’t see enough options. It’s like looking through a tunnel. For them, their choices are the same ones that everyone else in the tunnel sees and tries.
A study involving over 7,000 participants from six countries found that choice deprivation—feeling that there are too few options—is more common and detrimental than choice overload. Choice deprivation challenges the traditional emphasis on the adverse effects of having too many choices. (Nathan Cheek, Elena Reutskaja, Barry Schwartz, and Sheena Iyengar October 3, 2022)
Regardless of having too many or too few options, finding and selecting the best options remains a critical step in building an innovative business that lasts.
Choosing Your Options
Faced with too few options, leaders apply what they know. They add what has worked in the past, such as what their competitors are doing and what industry leaders advise, to their list of options.
When faced with too many options, your brain looks for the familiar, the quickly understandable, and logical modifications to existing approaches.
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In both cases, the objective is to narrow the list. You discard the unnecessary, unrelated, and uncommon options presented to you. You choose what you believe has the highest probability of addressing your challenge(s) and moving closer to your objective.
Common decision processes include:
Predictive Analytics Models
The RAPID Decision-Making Framework
The 3X3 Prioritization Matrix
Even the Benjamin Franklin Method (aka Moral Algebra)
Whatever method(s) you use, you end up with a narrowed list of options.
That makes sense. It’s logical and informed.
A shortlist.
Unfortunately, your shortlist of options is uninspired.
Image Credit: Peacock
Why Your Shortlist Doesn't Work
The options you consider define the future of your business. An uninspired list of options guides an uninspired future.
74% of executives don't believe their company's transformative strategies will succeed. (McKinsey)
Research indicates that cognitive biases and information overload can significantly impact decision-making processes, resulting in heuristic thinking. While heuristic models are helpful for quickly identifying the ‘known,’ they can cause business leaders to overlook unique options or fail to consider all possible alternatives. - Chiara Acciarini, Federica Brunetta, Paolo Boccardelli – Management Decisions – Emerald Insights
Only 2% of leaders are confident they will achieve 80–100% of their strategic objectives. (Bridges Business Consulting)
Herbert Simon introduced the theory of bounded rationality. It posits that individuals, including business leaders, are limited in their decision-making capabilities due to cognitive limitations, time pressures, and the complexity of information. As a result, they often settle for satisfactory solutions rather than seeking the optimal one.
45% of 4,702 CEOs are not confident that their companies will survive more than a decade on their current path. (PWC)
These alarming statistics and concerning research results provide further evidence of uninspired lists of options. Options that are killing your growth.
Why pursue transformation, innovation, or growth without belief or confidence?
Perhaps it's because of historical performance: “We haven’t succeeded in the past, so why would this year be any different?” This attitude is uncommon among business leaders I know and work with. Still, it may be a subconscious lack of confidence, but most will press forward, albeit with the wrong options.
Or it may be a result of your partial-year results that indicate your chosen ‘option’ makes success improbable. What got you here won’t get you there. Your belief is waning. So you return to your list of options and call the next batter up.
Pressing forward with the wrong options or pausing to replace one option for an equally poor option isn’t the worst of it.
The final killer is taking the lack of confidence and waning belief into another month, quarter, or year using the same process for identifying options to overcome your challenges and reach your goals.
The Peripheral Alternative
The reason business leaders short-list the wrong options is neither the lack nor excess of options. It is how options are identified and selected.
I’ve experienced a comparative bias with audiences and clients. There may be an initial cross-pollination of ideas when considering options, but eventually, the narrowing process pits options against each other.
Yes, you narrowed your list of options to a few. But, your shortlist is built and formalized through ‘one-or-the-other’ and ‘deductive’ reasoning.
It is the primary cause of uninspired options.
Uninspired options that are killing your growth.
Image Credit: Image Creator
Now What?
Peripheral Thinkers™ are rarely at a loss for options. It doesn’t mean they have too many or make do with too few. What options they have, work together. They create more of the best options uniquely suited for each situation with proven components that work.
Of the dozen-plus Peripheral Thinking™ skills, here are four skills to find, short-list, and apply better options with the highest likelihood of reaching your growth objectives.
Studying
The ‘Studying’ skill embraces curiosity to discover new things and learn new skills. We all have some level of curiosity. Note that this is different than a distraction. ‘Studying’ is a purposeful skill to expend your resources and grow other Peripheral Thinking™ skills. To strengthen your ‘Studying’ skill, seek new experiences to learn something you don’t know. Most anything will do. You don’t need to become an expert, but you do need to invest enough time, energy, and focus to capture new lessons. These lessons become unique options to add to your shortlist.
Drilling
The ’Drilling’ skill investigates things deeply, so the most is learned and discovered. Drilling is a sister skill to ‘Studying.’ The curiosity to learn drives ‘Studying.’ Tenacity and commitment to discovering unique insights drive the ‘Drilling’ skill. You strengthen your ‘Drilling’ skill by going deeper for longer. Insights are everywhere. They lay just beneath the point where most people stop digging. Succeed in finding this new insight once, and your tenacity for ‘Drilling’ compounds dramatically.
Deciphering
The ‘Deciphering’ skill involves understanding, separating, and simplifying complex ideas and concepts. You may have intimate knowledge of your obstacles and objectives, but this skill is not for internal use. (At least not in this scenario.) The purpose is to deconstruct options, especially the uncommon and unconventional options, into their base elements. Simplifying even the most complex option allows you to see connection points between elements of this option and other options.
Surveying
To find unique options that ensure your growth while outpacing your competitors, we use the Peripheral Thinking™ skill called ‘Surveying.’ Stay with me here. Surveying is a skill that sees more than the details to gain a strategic (big picture) view of a subject or issue. It is a 30,000-foot view that intends to find new, better, unique paths to your destination.
Imagine flying high above an aircraft carrier. The carrier represents your industry’s best practices, conventional approaches, and competitors, all wrapped into one huge ship. Collectively: “The uninspired options.”
You can see where the ship has been by its wake. You can predict the ship’s course with some certainty based on its direction. You can see topographical features all around the ship. Your goal is not to destroy the ship but to determine its destination.
While you are at altitude, look around. Find other ships in other industries. What path brought them to their current position, and where are they headed? Look for common patterns. More importantly, identify the outliers—ships further in their voyage who are headed in different directions.
Now you have micro options from ‘Studying,’ ‘Drilling,’ and ‘Deciphering.’ You also have macro options from ‘Surveying.’
Use your ‘Studying’ and ‘Drilling’ skills to inform which options to shortlist.
Use your ‘Deciphering’ skill to deconstruct your shortlist options and create a unique option others haven’t seen.
Use your ‘Surveying’ skill to deploy your unique option and outpace competitors and obstacles.
These skills discourage a comparative bias and promote a collaborative approach. It’s not about how many or how few options you have. It’s about how well you understand your options, where and how they can be used, and what combinations of options offer the best path(s) to grow.
“CEOs who confidently balance speed of change with the need to bring the whole company – and broader ecosystem – on the journey will benefit from emerging opportunities. Those willing to make bold decisions now are looking to shape their future with confidence.” - EY
“CEOs who collaborate with various sources, boldly combine disparate options, and create unique yet proven approaches are the leaders who CREATE the speed of change and SHAPE the future for themselves and their clients.” - Paul Daniels, Jr.
Whatever your obstacle or goal—be encouraged.
You can access unlimited options (everything you need) to create unlimited opportunities that overcome challenges and achieve big goals (to achieve anything you can imagine).
Remember:
Collect common and uncommon options
Dismiss comparative bias and embrace collaborative approaches
Use ‘Studying,’ ‘Drilling,’ and ‘Deciphering’ to ensure a powerful options’ shortlist
Use your ‘Surveying’ skills to deploy the most innovative and probable approach
Do this, and you will avoid growth-killing options and create KILLER GROWTH OPTIONS.
Until next time… I’ll be looking for you in the periphery!
Peripheral Thinking™ skills reference February and August 2024 newsletters:
https://www.pauldanielsjr.com/newsletter/feb-2024
https://www.pauldanielsjr.com/newsletter/august-2024-peripheral-thinkers-newsletter
ONE MORE THING… PLEASE…
You are a peripheral multiplier!
For every person who reads this newsletter, follows my posts, or hears my keynote speeches, 5-7 people benefit from the Peripheral Thinking™ insights.
I aim to share the Peripheral Thinking™ message with 100,000 people by the end of 2025. Why? Because those who hear and apply the lessons grow and thrive in any environment. Helping people achieve anything they can imagine is why I do what I do.
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