This article explores the ways executives reason while they are solving difficult human and technical problems. The executive mind seems to work in bewildering ways, a few of which Chris discusses in this article. For one thing, he has identified a pattern of three nested paradoxes embedded in executive reasoning.
First, the reasoning executives use to manage people and technical issues leads simultaneously to productive and to counterproductive consequences.
Second, they are unaware of this feature because they are disconnected from their own reasoning processes while making tough decisions.
Third, they are disconnected from their reasoning processes because of the skills they have mastered to solve tough problems. The skills that lead to success will also lead to failure. How can the same reasoning necessarily lead to productive and counterproductive consequences?
How can people act and at the same time be disconnected from their reasoning processes? And why is it necessary for them to be disconnected from their reasoning processes in order to solve difficult problems? What impact do these features have on executive problem solving and on the organization?
These nested paradoxes indicate that we are dealing with some deeply embedded features of the human mind. And it is the executive mind that concerns us because executives are most often held responsible for dealing with the difficult issues in organizations and in society at large.