All tagged Making judgements
Is there a difference between facts and opinions?
That seems like a question with an obvious answer, but I saw it posited on someone’s Twitter feed earlier.
They were suggesting that what we consider to be facts are nothing but very strongly held opinions.
If that were true, it would suggest that what we believe is simply what we believe - ideas that we’ve come to accept as fact based on our own observational, anecdotal or experiential learnings.
There's plenty of upside to being a contrarian, until there isn't.
Sometimes, it's worth considering that the popular opinion - the consensus view - may very well be the right view.
When I was growing up, I loved reading British football magazines such as Shoot!
And one of the topics I’d love reading in them were articles about the “greatest goal” or the “greatest player”, etc.
In fact, I remember a piece somewhere about “The Greatest Save In The History Of Football”…
Judging someone's character is a difficult thing to do. A one-off incident or action shouldn't be taken out of context (with a few exceptions) and presumed to represent the entirety of who someone is.
But patterns are different. If the behavior is repeated, if it's recurring, it tells you something. Patterns matter.
Culture, in all its forms, plays such a strong role in our lives that, for the most part, we don’t really even pay attention to it or realize it.
It’s formed through years of experience, understanding and shared experiences. This is the case at home, in our communities, with our friends and with our colleagues at work.
In fact, Trevor Noah once referred to culture as “an operating system that you have, that you didn’t even realize you had”. That captures it perfectly for me.
How do you choose a headliner?
If James Taylor and Jackson Browne go on tour together (which they’re doing) and it’s billed as a “co-headlined” show, is it really a co-headline?
Or if Sting and Peter Gabriel toured together (which they did), and that was billed a co-headlined show, is that really a co-headline, or is it really tilted towards one of those artists?
Many times, there’s a real value to contrarian thinking.
In investment terms, the best time to buy is when the market is down and everyone is running for the doors. Or, in personnel terms, placing a bet on the young up-and-comer who’s been committed and loyal to the cause, when conventional wisdom says to go out and hire an established name.
But there are times when the contrarian approach doesn’t make sense, and despite our desire to do what we feel is right, we need to accept that we might actually be wrong.
Patterns matter. They tell you a lot about people.
Consistent patterns of behavior tell you whether someone is good, whether they’re credible, whether they’re dedicated, etc. That’s just a fact.
Sure, everyone can (and will) have bad days. Days where things just aren’t going the way they’d like, when they feel as if they’re at the end of their tether. In those instances, we’ll say and do things that don’t represent who we are. That’s also a fact, and it happens to the best of us.
We seem to have arrived at a place where, for many, the measure of a person’s worth and value to society is based on their net worth. And the proxies for this are in the titles we hold (and covet), the toys and trinkets we own and the clothes we wear.
We talk a good game, though. We talk about the value of hard work, the need to be happy, that love and caring trumps all.
One of the things I love about kids is that they just get started.
Ask a 5 year old to paint, and they don’t worry about what they’ll paint, their technique, the precise color mix or anything else. They just grab a brush, pick a color and get going. No times wasted thinking, analyzing, pre-judging. They just do.
As we get older, we lose this. Too much thinking, analyzing and pre-judging. Before we’ve even tried.
Labels are convenient. They're easy-to-use shortcuts.
They allow us to make a point, to convey meaning without additional, wasted effort. They’re also a means to put something (or someone) in a box - a box that’s familiar to us, one that allows us to - in our mind - better understand and relate to them.
Last week, I (along with so many of us) was shocked and saddened by the deaths of both Kate Spade and Anthony Bourdain within days of each other.
Two individuals who had it all. Commercial success, professional recognition, total economic independence and all the luxuries that come with it.
