Blog 316 -06.13.2016

It is my humble opinion that the term conventional wisdom is one of those oxymorons like humbly proud. It is usually neither very conventional nor very wise but more of what I call sheep or group think. You see it a lot in politics, religion, and business where people just accept what they are told without questioning. It is surprising what malarkey people just accept because someone said so. That goes for me too. In my blogs one of my goals is to provoke thought, to get people thinking.

I have great confidence that even with a limited education most people can figure out most anything if they put their mind to it and ask questions. One of my all time favorite quotes comes from Eric Savareid, a long time journalist for CBS. He said, “The chief cause of problems is solutions.” That is because “quick fixes”, “knee jerk reactions”, and many of our rules and regulations only address surface problems, symptoms really of a deeper problem, the root cause.

Root cause anaylisis requires some thinking, some investigation, some time. Real answers usually are more involved and require more than a bumper sticker, a slogan, or a bandaid. One method of root cause anaylisis that I was taught in years of Quality Management training is called The Seven Whys.

It works a lot like most four year olds think. They ask “Why?” Then at your quick answer they ask “Why?”again. They keep this up till you are forced to really think deeply about what they are curious about or become frustrated and say something stupid like, “Because I said so” or “Quit asking questions.”

By all means never stop asking questions. That is how we learn at four, forty, or a hundred and forty. You should live so long. Maybe I will, but only as long as I can keep learning. One of the most dangerous things about conventional wisdom is that it gives many the false notion that they know a lot more than they really do. We are all but “Young grasshoppers” awaiting the next lesson from life.

Your friend and fellow traveler,
David White