Mistakes are interesting as I force myself to watch the political leaders and what they all must contend with emotionally. We members of society are quick to criticize, admonish, berate and posture with our opinions of their errors and choices.
As members of any societal group, whether it’s at work or at home, we have so many opinions that rarely ever beg the question of what we think we know. I know I’m guilty of that. We are all guilty of that. It has everything to do with our Id and ego of what we have learned through life.
We shout the belief, “Feelings have no place at work!” Then, why are you so angry? Isn’t angry a feeling? Let’s explore that for a moment. Pride in our work for a best-in-class product or service, isn’t that a feeling? “Stick to the facts!” Meanwhile, in current media and political arguments, we don’t really know what the facts are as we look to groups like Snopes and other fact-checkers to perform the due diligence (homework) so we can be spoonfed the details.
A veteran shared a moment with a psychologist. That person was given the feeling wheel. Side note–I cannot help but notice how it looks like an onion diagram </end side note>. This person only knew the emotions of happy or angry. There isn’t any gray, there’s no in-between. By that person’s perception, there wasn’t any granularity to explore. Until the psychologist pushed for a deeper inspection and different description to convey the message of their feelings. What biases are involved?
In another forum, a wheel of all the different biases was shared and a thought occurred to me. What’s missing from that bias wheel is emotions that can be tied to those biases. Our biases are core to our choices. How we feel in that moment can drive our actions and reactions.
“If you don’t know people, you don’t know business” ~ Simon Sinek
If we desire to be understood, it’s best to understand ourselves and to explore our deepest values, to challenge them, to acknowledge that bias is something we all struggle with. Some wise person is frequently quoted:
“He who does not know that he does not know is a fool. Shun him. He who knows that he does not know is wise. Follow him.“
That has been a lesson taught since my primary education and it was pounded into my memory. It is only now that I really understand what that meant.
