The Achievement Habit (9 page)

This is a tool used to distill problems to their essence. For some types of problems, idea generation can be aided by plotting some performance variable against time or another variable, or by drawing flow charts that represent an entire process.

This is a great way to start a question during idea generation. What if there was no gravity? What if there was blast-off house paint? What if there was a joke-telling trash can? These questions, by taking us off the main track, create an irreverent attitude that leads us to question assumptions about the problem.

This is a good way to compare different ideas, by creating a matrix in which the rows represent the different ideas and the columns represent attributes within these ideas. For example, in choosing a bride, Kumar labeled each row with the name of a different candidate and each column with an attribute such as education, appearance, wealth, or family. Assigning a number to each matrix element transforms the comparison to a quantitative measure. Adding all the numbers in a row gives a total score for that idea. Also, weighting factors can be used to prioritize certain attributes.

Imagine that the problem has been solved, and then work back to the beginning. This way you can see what all the milestones are. If nothing else, this method is great for scheduling.

These aids for sequential planning are well known in the movie industry. They can be used anytime you want to tell a story in a linear manner. They are, in fact, a very pictorial version of the
journey map
, a diagram showing a linear sequence of events.

This diagram can be used to redefine a problem, much like our method for changing the question (see “Moving to a Higher Level” earlier in this chapter). The idea is to generate a diagram showing a string of causes and effects. For a given problem the diagram lists a way of doing something—the
how
—and then
why
it is done. A lot of ideas can be generated this way. There are many variants, such as the how-why-why diagram, or the why-why-why diagram.

These diagrams are loosely related to the
abstraction ladder
, which is based on S. I. Hayakawa’s ladder of four levels of linguistic abstraction.
⁵
The bottom level consists of concrete things: swimming goggles, a telephone, a mug, and so on. On the next level, there are
groups
of concrete things: schoolchildren, power tools, cars, livestock. The third level consists of broader groups: women, men, movies, communication devices, decorations. At the top level, there are more abstract concepts: communism, power, fairness, success, good, evil.

By diagramming the levels of abstraction for the problem/solution, you are better able to see if you are working too narrowly, being too specific—in which case you might want to redefine the problem.

This is my colleague Jim Adams’s term for the use of different cognitive styles. The idea is to be flexible in the way you look
at things. Try to imagine what you would do if you thought with your nose or tried not to speak. In this way you “see” your problem differently and open up new solution ideas. Adams’s classic book
Conceptual Blockbusting
contains a lot of other tools for overcoming blocks to creative problem solving.

These
relationship maps
diagram the connections between pieces of information in a nonlinear manner supposed to be analogous to the way your brain stores information. Mind maps are great for providing a broad understanding of how diverse parts relate to the whole. Before the widespread use of computers, most information was stored linearly. Now we all do computer searches in nonlinear ways. This gives us an experiential understanding of the saying “Neat notes contain messy information; messy notes contain neat information.”

To make a mind map, start at the center of your space and write a word or short phrase that will be the main topic. Then see what other idea (word) this evokes and write it a short distance away. Connect the two words with a line. Next, go back to the first word and see what else it evokes. Write this new word in another direction and connect a line to it from the first word.

Keep repeating this process until you run out of ideas. Then, use each of the secondary words as a root, and repeat the entire process. Of course, I have explained this in too linear a manner, and the words in the map can be generated in any order the connections come to mind. The following figure shows a mind map created by David Kelley. The first entry was “the d-School @ STANFORD.” The map was for generating ideas related to designing the Stanford d.school.

Illustration by David Kelley

This is a tool for what is sometimes called
visual thinking
. Here we approach a problem using our visual abilities to see, draw, and imagine. We can generate new ideas by drawing things that we see and things that we imagine. We seek solutions by bringing together results from these different aspects of visual thinking. The overlap among different aspects is represented graphically by a Venn diagram, in which each aspect is shown as a circle, and our attention is called to the ideas in the area where the interiors of all the circles overlap.

In this method you examine your own problem-solving process and strive to make it
ambidextrous
, meaning that you use both right-brain and left-brain activities equally. In one variant of self-diagramming, one person lies down on a long sheet of rolled-out paper, on which another draws around his body to make an outline. Then the first person labels each part of this
body outline with comic-strip-type balloons containing whatever terms come to mind, thus balancing the intellectual/verbal with the emotional/visual. In Chinese terms, you are striving for balance between
yin
and
yang
.

I
N MY VIEW IT
is not useful to jump from method to method. Instead it is better to become adept at a few problem-solving strategies and stick with those. The more you practice your chosen techniques, the more easily you can unblock yourself at will.

CHAPTER 4

If you always do what you’ve always done,
you’ll always get what you’ve always gotten.

—Anthony Robbins

When it comes to achieving what you want in life, it’s rare that you can do it entirely on your own. Often you’ll need a little assistance from your friends. It’s said that it’s not
what
you know but
who
you know. I agree with that, though in its less cynical form: we are all better off when we assist each other to figure things out.

I have found colleagues to be sources of enduring wisdom. My colleague Tom taught me—as well as his students—that we don’t have enough time to hurry. This means that when you do things in a rush, you are invariably going to mess up. It will take you more time to clean up the mess than if you took the time to do it right. Tom’s advice always comes to mind when I am fumbling with my key in a futile effort to speed up the bike-locking process so I can rush to an appointment.

My colleague Henry left an indelible impression on me one afternoon as we were biking home together. I excitedly told him I had just made a great research discovery. He asked, “Is it good enough that you can describe it before we reach my turnoff at the next corner?” Unfortunately, it wasn’t.

Henry also told me something that one of the kings of England said to his son: “Whenever you get a chance to either sit down or go to the toilet, take it, because you never know when your next chance will arise.” The wisdom behind that advice became clear when I sat in an auditorium with a thousand other people, waiting uncomfortably for a very embarrassed famous author to return after having interrupted his reading midsentence to use the bathroom. I have found that this royal advice works especially well for teachers.

One of the most important things I have learned from colleagues is how
not
to be. I had a colleague who was basically a nice person; I never experienced anything except kindness from him. Sadly, though, he treated a junior staff member who worked directly for him shabbily, forcing the staffer to move to a different university. After seeing this, I resolved to be especially concerned with treating younger colleagues fairly. An administrator once told me I was “a reverse ass-kisser,” meaning that I treated underlings with more deference than I did my supervisors. I took that as a compliment.

The fact is, we can choose to learn from others. We can emulate their positive attributes and guard against their negative ones. We can learn from a child as well as from a famous celebrity. It is important not to be disillusioned when you find out your idols have clay feet. They can still be your teachers. You might even be able to learn more from obviously imperfect people than from those still pretending to be perfect.

Does the fact that Mahatma Gandhi was not a great father to his children invalidate his message and example? Does the fact that a politician had an illicit affair invalidate the good work she has done? You can choose a priori to rule certain influences out of your life, or you can be inclusive and take the relevant lessons from each. I believe the latter course leads to a richer life experience.

I was part of a ten-person teaching team leading a weeklong intensive workshop in the d.school that we called Summer College. Five members of the team were always present. The others came as needed. The participants were PhD and master’s students from different departments at Stanford. It was a wonderful experience for all, and the students always gave it the highest possible ratings; many said it was the best experience in their university careers.

The students always commented on how they had never before seen such collegiality among faculty. They were inspired by the fact that five faculty members were always there with them, and that we clearly enjoyed being with each other. For many it was a refreshing change from the world of backbiting and one-upmanship in which they were mired during their thesis research.

Many students live in a world where people think they make themselves bigger by making their colleagues smaller. However, if you bad-mouth a colleague, you actually make yourself smaller, not larger. For example, if I tell you how wonderful the people I work with are, by association you have to think I am pretty good too. On the other hand, if I tell you about my colleagues’ defects, by association it makes me seem a little less
admirable. Unfortunately these dysfunctional attitudes are not limited to universities. They are fixtures in many families and in most organizations.

Consider how it feels if, every time you go for a haircut, the hairdresser spends the whole time telling you how bad all the other local hairdressers are—they don’t know what they’re doing, they fry people’s hair, they charge too much. Eventually you will start to wonder why your hairdresser feels such a need to cut others down. Obviously she’s concerned about losing out to the competition, which may make you wonder if she has good reason to feel so threatened.

For you to succeed—even to win a job or a promotion over someone else—does not require you to cut down the other person. If anything, complimenting your rival shows class. Just work on yourself; be concerned with your own strengths and qualifications, and don’t worry about what your competitors are up to.

A lot of fuss is made over the formal mentoring process, yet I’m not convinced it’s very helpful. What I prefer, instead, are mini-mentorships. While working on this book, for instance, I asked everyone I knew who had published a book for advice. That way I had a whole team of advisers, each with a different experience and perspective to share.

Don’t be shy about doing this, provided you’re open to the idea of doing the same for someone in return. You never know what you’re going to learn or who will be helpful as you set out on a new pursuit. People can surprise you; sometimes the ones you’re sure are generous will be stingy with their advice because they fear competition, and the ones you least expect will come through for you in a big way.

It’s okay to ask for assistance. Look for people in your life who have accomplished things that you want to accomplish, and talk to them about how they did it and what they would do differently if they had it to do over. Get feedback from as many people as you can. You don’t need to follow all or even most of it. Keep in mind that the more input you get, the more you have to sift through for gems.

Steve Jobs often mentioned that he believed “good artists copy; great artists steal,” a quote he attributed to Pablo Picasso. There’s no evidence that Picasso ever said that, but many people give him credit for it anyway. In 1920 T. S. Eliot wrote, “Immature poets imitate; mature poets steal; bad poets deface what they take, and good poets make it into something better, or at least something different.”

The truth is, there’s very little new under the sun. As my colleague Larry Leifer says, “All design is redesign.” Everything you can think of has at least in part been thought of before, and it would be stupid to ignore the wisdom of the people who’ve preceded you. If you see good information and you don’t use it, you’re just being silly. Nobody can survive on his own; the fact that you know how to speak, how to read, how to add, it’s all because you’ve taken someone else’s idea and used it for your own needs. Society depends on building on other people’s ideas.

So don’t be too concerned about “stealing.” Of course, don’t take credit for someone else’s work or simply copy something outright without improving it or putting your own spin on it. Understand that it’s okay to build off others’ ideas, and don’t be too possessive of your own.

It’s disturbing to realize that lives might have been saved if
some researchers weren’t so secretive and fixed on winning the race to a Nobel Prize. Some people are fiercely protective of their own data and ideas, often for years, until they can publish their work. The public good would be much better served if people worked more collaboratively.

Commit yourself to radical collaboration.

If you read business books or take classes, you’ve undoubtedly been told about the power of networking—handing out your business card at social luncheons, showing up at key events, and promoting yourself. It’s so smarmy and manipulative, and usually pretty transparent.

My best advice for you is not to network at all. If what you’re really doing is trying to buddy up to people you think are on a higher plane than you are to get help from them, it’s a lecherous relationship and it’s not genuine. There are expert networkers who succeed at whatever they’re trying to promote. Even so, when I go to sleep at night I’m glad I’m me and not them.

I’ve heard several cautionary tales of people who’ve overstepped the privileges of acquaintance. Never pretend that you have a relationship with someone that goes beyond what’s really there. An opportunistic person might say, “Joe Smith suggested I contact you,” when in fact Joe Smith said no such thing. When this gets back to Joe, can you guess what he’s going to say? Don’t assume it’s okay to use someone’s name to get in the door, even if you consider that person a friend. Ask first, or it’s likely to backfire.

Life is not about using other people as you climb to the top. Stay real, instead, and build friendships. Too many people are afraid to mix their business lives with their personal lives, and I
think that’s sad. That came to me once when I was talking with Jean and Georges, who’d worked together for years, and I realized they barely knew anything about each other. They’d never been in each other’s homes, and they didn’t know anything about each other’s spouses or children. What a waste. Don’t be afraid of real human relationships. They matter.

Some people have bad experiences working with their friends. Yet there are many examples of lifelong friend/work connections. My colleague David Kelley realized, when he was still a Stanford master’s student, that it was fun to work with his friends. He formed a company called Intergalactic Design with several of his classmates. Three companies and over forty years later, some of the same friends are still working with him.

It is common wisdom that if you lend money to your friends, you will lose both your money and your friendship. I guess that is the case if you have the wrong friends. I have always found it a great pleasure to assist friends to fund their projects or meet temporary needs, and I have never lost my money or my friendships.

When you forge these kinds of real relationships, the word
networking
doesn’t even come into play. You naturally think of each other when opportunities arise. You ask for assistance and they show up, because they are friends and that’s what friends do, not because you gave them a fake smile and a firm handshake at a luncheon.

Let people see you as human. Be real. Ask yourself, Who would you rather see at your door, a friend or a door-to-door salesman?

Be proactive in making friendships wherever you land. Invite people out to eat or over to your house. When you hear that a loved one of theirs is sick, follow up and ask about it the next day.

Do you have coworkers you don’t know much about? Take time to get to know some of them. Make a few casual lunch or coffee dates, and take time to have a social (not business, or office gossip) conversation. Find out about their lives, and if they are interested, share information about yours.

W
HAT IT COMES DOWN
to is that if you want people to assist you, you should (a)
ask
them, because not everyone is that attuned to what you need, and (b) be a decent human being. Do not pretend you know more than you do. Most people are flattered when you have a genuine need and ask for their expertise. When you’re offered assistance, respect others’ time constraints—don’t call every day, or expect them to write responses to a hundred questions—and be appreciative.