New Gaze - New World

Tools 3 and 4 - Intuition and the 10th man

Day 3Tool 3 and 4The next morning Saida was feeling good. Last night only 3 tents had been pitched. This meant that fears were being overcome. Those who slept under the stars had reassured those who were hesitant. Better still, they had given them the desire for this experience. From experience Saida knew that the number of tents pitched each night was a good indication of the fears and health of the trainees. This number was generally high at the very beginning of the stay, then decreased over the first three days. After that, as a result of minor ailments or indigestion, it could increase again from time to time. In addition, the previous day's talking circle had confirmed that everyone was acclimatising. Most of the trainees took an active part in the camp activities without even being asked, helping to load and feed the camels or collecting wood for the fire. They were curious about the teachings, and involved in the exercises and reflections. The questions asked often anticipated the teachings to come. Saida had also discussed with the teachers and, together, they had decided to modify the order of the teachings in order to better satisfy the questions asked the day before. Yes, Saida was definitely feeling good. She liked what she was doing. This morning, at the briefing, Aziz had arranged the trainees by size, and had formed new sub-groups of 3 people. This exercise of forming teams with the most eccentric criteria amused the trainees as much as the teachers and everyone wondered what would be invented the next day. Each sub-group of the day had then worked all morning with the guiding principle for each one, in turn, to take a position on different subjects and to present them to the other two members of the group, the latter being responsible for applying "presence" in order not only to hear, but above all to fully welcome everything that emanated from the person expressing himself or herself. This had resulted in a lot of laughter among the participants. Nevertheless, Liam had intervened in the group that included Thomas, Karim and Louis. The latter were getting angry about a difference of opinion while Karim was speaking about the standard of living in different parts of the world. Liam had reminded them of one of the fundamentals of presence: "If, during presence or attentive listening, you find yourself reacting, arguing or expressing an opinion, it is certainly because your listening was not yet sufficiently present and still left space for Ego and Mind to manifest. If this was the case, persevere. All three of them looked at each other sheepishly and then naturally fell into each other's arms, laughing and apologising. Yes, Saida never tired of thanking the desert for the experiences she shared there day after day. Now the group was back together in the shade of the white sail and Sophie was debriefing the morning's exercise. "Your laughter says a lot about the success of the day's exercise. How do you interpret it? I'm Nour, what made me laugh was to observe sometimes the discrepancy between words and body language, to the point that the two didn't say the same thing. I realised that this happens every day and I didn't realise it. I'm Thomas, I got carried away with what Karim was saying and I apologise again, it was Liam who set me straight, I was missing the point of the exercise and letting my Ego take over. I could then realise that there was conviction in Karim's speech, a perfect alignment between what he was expressing and what his body and attitude were conveying. Not only did I realise that getting carried away was a lack of respect for that conviction, but I felt that if I wanted to exchange with Karim on this subject, I should somehow honour that conviction and express myself with the same attitude.Sophie spoke again. "Thank you Thomas, for sharing. This achievement is essential and anticipates other tools that we will discover soon. Remember that presence is about knowing the person you are talking to. At this stage, what he says is of lesser importance and even more so, what you would have to say is counterproductive, it is not the time. I sense that you are eager to discover a new tool, so I'll leave it to Saida." Saida took her place in the middle of the group, and began: "Today we are going to discover not one but two tools. Because these two tools are complementary. One allows you to work on the other and vice versa. So we have decided to teach them simultaneously. So, after "Synchronicity" and "Presence", we will deal with "Intuition" and "Tenth Man". Let's start with INTUITION. Is not the evolution of the world around us an endless continuity of cause and effect? Whether it is natural or not, is there a single event that is not marked by its precursors? Is there a single effect that is not the consequence of a cause? Even the events that seem most sudden to us, such as an earthquake or the collapse of the stock market, are always preceded by prior signals, however small. Haven't we seen the flight of animals when a natural disaster approaches? Doesn't your dog sense that you are behind the door without having seen or heard you? Because it is often a matter of life and death for them, animals perceive these signs and react accordingly, automatically, they do not need to understand. They know. We often deny our animal origins, all these signs, we also perceive them. But with the physical and material security of our time, our sensitivity has become blunted. We rely more on segmentation analysis, on means or tools to predict the future. Does this make the reality of the world less global? Can what surrounds us be fully equated, modelled or explained? Should the means and tools of analysis be rejected? Are they at the root of our difficulty in adapting to events? It is sometimes said that when Christopher Columbus arrived in America, the natives who had seen them did not have the words to describe white men arriving on large sailing ships floating on the sea because they had never seen either. And those who listened to them did not have the concepts to hear their stories. In fact, they were not able to integrate the event and therefore react appropriately. Is this not still how we, and by extension our organisations, operate? Do we not establish a perimeter such as 'me', the family, the company, the country... within which we create principles, boundaries, and rules from which we think we understand and explain things? When these things take a turn that puts us in difficulty or simply in discomfort, don't we try to deny them until they impose themselves on us, most often brutally. To finally conclude that it was a sudden, abrupt change, some use the term 'discontinuity'. To understand the present and anticipate the future, we must first expand our capacity for understanding by supplementing the arsenal of tools and means with our intuitive animal perception. In addition, we must also sweep away our natural tendency to deny change and this is where the fourth tool comes in, which we call the 'tenth man'. I'll let Liam tell you about it. Liam spoke again. "Cities destroyed by volcanic eruptions, tsunamis or floods, wars, accidents, bombings, epidemics...history is full of events that no one had foreseen and that happened anyway. For each of these events, there was someone who warned about the risk. So why didn't anyone hear and prepare? Simply because to avoid paralysis in the face of danger, there is a protective mechanism in human beings that instinctively makes the product of the seriousness of the risk, its horizon and its probability. Below a certain threshold, the risk is simply ignored.

Just take the example of smokers, they all know the seriousness of the risk of smoking, they even know that the probability of serious illness is high, but the horizon is considered remote, so they continue their activity. 

Another example is the use of seat belts, which took decades to be adopted because the probability of an accident was considered low by drivers and the horizon was remote. In order to succeed in introducing its use, the horizon had to be artificially shortened by an immediate fine in case of violation.In an organisation, this phenomenon is further aggravated by group consensus. But in reality, the majority often prefers the comfort of consensus to the consideration of an unlikely or remote hypothesis. The example of technological evolution shows that those who were willing to look at technologies considered unlikely or remote very early on often came out stronger (see cathode ray screens, filament lamps, hard disks, etc.). And those who ignored this debate have often disappeared. It is the responsibility of any organisation that wants to be sustainable, but also of each individual in his or her own interest, to give themselves the means to hear, to identify the warning signs of unlikely or distant events that could have consequences for them if they occur. Very large organisations often have dedicated departments whose job it is to identify warning signs, trends and alternative scenarios. Smaller organisations, but also each of us as individuals, would also benefit from this kind of insight.For them, there is an approach that we call 'the tenth man', but which could just as well be the tenth woman. The implementation of this technique is quite simple in principle. When there is a massive consensus. That is, when everyone seems to agree on a subject.Most often there is an absence of debate and therefore an absence of critical scrutiny. As a result, certain information or events deemed improbable are simply ignored.In this case, one person is called the tenth man. His mission is to oppose the group consensus by fuelling the debate, even if artificially. Let us not be mistaken, this is not about opposition in principle or the expression of convictions. It is, in fact, a questioning and reasonable argument, a kind of plea. In the end, the tenth man has to contradict the other nine, even if he or she agrees with them at first sight. He or she must use reasoning and concrete evidence to try to prove the existence and validity of other options. The tenth man will have to approach the subject from all angles, especially the most unexpected ones, and raise questions that at first glance no one was asking. He will have to start a debate. And the debate will gradually move the issue from the realm of convictions and single-mindedness to the realm of knowledge and mastery. At the end of the debate, everyone, including the tenth man, will be free to be convinced by the arguments of the other, because they will have been exposed, criticised, demonstrated and analysed from all angles. This method puts the tenth man in a delicate position, he risks being perceived as an opponent, so everyone must remain aware that he is the actor in an exercise for the benefit of all and be open-minded to accept a different point of view and answer as factually as possible the questions that arise. In my experience, the tenth man has a face. I remember a discussion with a colourful character we will call Frank. In his organisation, he was a gateway for all major investment requests. In this complex validation process, he was aware that he was a dreaded signatory, he knew that everyone thought of him as "his only goal is to destroy all the projects that reach him". In fact, he explained to me that his many questions, his formidable questioning, his criticism of the smallest detail, most often resulted in projects driven solely by enthusiasm collapsing on their own in the face of harsh reality.I looked at this character as the tenth man, and I knew the difficulty of his position. I perceived that behind every criticism, question and challenge there was a trainer who prepared his foal for victory, he made those who were committed to their project stronger, more robust, he made them invincible. He confided to me that he had never refused any project, but that their authors preferred to withdraw them from themselves as soon as they realised how blinded they were by their own enthusiasm and how the criticism they received was most often justified. He concluded by explaining that he was the most ardent defender of the authors of projects that had convinced him and that their success was then practically guaranteed. Franck had managed to make himself known as the tenth man, even if he did not know what the term meant. Some people will think that this debate takes time and that there are other priorities. Let's rather look at this debate as an investment, an increase in knowledge and expertise. A sign of listening and openness. A richness of exchange, a mark of trust and respect. These are all values that are becoming increasingly important when it comes to retaining talent or attracting new talent.

The man and woman of the "New Earth" take the time to hear and discuss openly all points of view that feed a rich and fruitful debate. They know that intuition and the tenth man are their most reliable allies.