Everyone tends to brag about their mental prowess. However, most tend to fail when faced with mentally tasking events. I have had the fallacy of how great and deep I could think, but I have been set straight following the last class on analysis of business problems.
Having looked up the case study we were to analyze in class – United Cereal: Lora Brill’s Eurobrand Challenge. As my custom is, I sped read the case, quickly assimilating the overview of the case. After that was a slower and more focused study where I picked the details, and was ready for my analysis.
I took my pen and began the structuring from the decision problem to the analyses against my well-defined criteria and then my conclusion. I was satisfied with my work, having put a lot of thought into it, and it made sense.
While waiting for the lecturer to start, I was overwhelmed with joy and confidence in the value I would add. My knowledge bubble was ruptured almost immediately, “Yes, there are two decision problems.” The lecturer answered a classmate. What! Two decisions? How? These thoughts flooded my mind. It was a downward spiral from there. I tried to recover and contributed value to the class as I was conversant with the details. However, it was overconfidence that clouded my judgment.
What can we learn from this? Never overestimate your abilities. Be humble, and calm, and pay attention to details. Never assume the importance or unimportance of case facts. Treat each information presented as gold and accord due attention to them. When faced with a case, forget what was and what could be after, and focus on the case study before you. Also, by putting yourself in the shoes of the person in question in the case, you will make a more personalized decision based on your experience.
In the case in question, we looked at a vice president who needed to decide to launch a product in a region to boost their market share or a launch in another area to reduce cost. Looking at the case indifferently, we would not identify with the peculiar challenges and risks involved. We personalize the scenario as the vice president. What will I do? What would be more important to me? What risks can I take? and which would I avoid? Thoughts like this enable us to respond constructively to the case.
The focus is not on the correctness of our answers but on the depth and breadth of our thoughts. In this situation, how well we can canvas the entire picture of the case would go a long way to strengthen our thoughts. As we wrapped up the class, we considered three ways to strengthen our brains. The first, watch thought-provoking movies such as investigative movies. Second, playing thought proving games such as chess and mahjong. Finally, join a community of critical thinkers. An example of such is The Foundation for Critical Thinking.
Having seen this, challenge yourself to think deeply and broadly. Be open to learning when a superior thought process is displayed.
Light, Love, and Life
#ABP #MMBA4
