As humans, we feel an urge for logical conclusions and clarity – we want to understand how the world works, and if necessary, we even tend to create our own reality that might have nothing to do with the truth. This gives us the (false) conviction of safety and stability, which is much more pleasing than facing uncertainty and change. Moreover, we try to preserve our self-image by confirming our existing beliefs and attitudes rather than questioning them.
As Leaders and Entrepreneurs, confidence, decisiveness and determination are essential, but in a fast-growing and continuously changing world, we also need the ability to adapt to our environment and be open to change and new opportunities. When we let our authority dominate over openness and agility, we might get trapped by our limitations.
So here I welcome you to choose the path of an authentic Leader rather than “the narcissistic” or “successful psychopath type”. You can still be challenging and get your team out of their comfort zone, even without wasting energy on proving your right and your strong need for recognition and dominance.
The truth is, no matter how hard you stick to your own point of view, no matter how good you are at convincing yourself, others will sooner or later see through it. Even if you are in a position of authority: people will question you.
Especially as a Leader, it is crucial to be able to admit a mistake or not to know something. We should force ourselves to leave our comfort zone, change and confront views.
Therefore, it is essential to observe consciously and, in case, reframe our attitudes and realise that questioning ourselves is a crucial medium of growth, development and great Leadership.
Questioning yourself is not equal to self-doubt
As a Leader and Entrepreneur, your job is to make informed and good business decisions; it is not (solely) about you; it is about your company and the people who trust and work for you. With your decisions, you are responsible for all the stakeholders of your company. Therefore, you can not rely just on an opinion or biased belief.
Phil Town, investor, New York Times Bestselling Author, and the founder of Rule 1 Investing, believes in the value investing strategy of Warren Buffett, where the goal is to research wonderful companies. Research also means getting to know the vision and mission behind the company, the value proposition of its leaders. Phil Town and Warren Buffett, exactly know that people tend to fall for the confirmation bias. In this case, investors tend to confirm their belief that the given company is wonderful and ignore important information that might prove them wrong.
Long story short: If we want to believe in something, we will. We are very skilled in convincing ourselves and strengthening our beliefs and opinions.
So questioning ourselves simply means falsifying our story, opinion, and decisions instead of verifying it.
…. steps of questioning ourselves by falsification
Follow these few steps whenever you need to make a decision or solve a problem.
Remind yourself that these steps are essential to
- recognise; you might make a biased decision,
- strengthen your decision, as it stays the best alternative even after falsification.
1- Get clear on your Problem Space.
Invest some time clearly defining your problem and the outcome you wish for. The clearer you get about your problem space, meaning the initial state, goal state and other factors that influence the outcome, the easier it will be to focus on the solution instead of coping with your negative emotions related to the problem.
2- Detach from all negative emotions—even those, related to questioning yourself.
Emotions highly impact our way of making decisions and handling problems. They can easily trigger old belief systems that are limiting us from growth. On top of that, they can lead to so-called Flight, Fight or Freeze Responses, which are instinctive reactions and often suboptimal compared to conscious decision-making processes.
After defining your problem space, take a deep breath and get clear on your negative emotions triggered by the problem. Name them, accept them and let them go.
3- Get clear on your bias, beliefs and your tendency to stick to solutions that have worked for you in the past.
Accept and consciously handle the fact that your brain wants to keep you in your comfort zone as much as possible. Therefore, it will try to convince you that the old good ways, first impressions, and most accessible alternatives are the best ones to go.
Additionally, in times of uncertainty, you may also get easily influenced by others around you.
4- Falsify your current conviction related to the problem.
Whenever we formulate statements like “That’s nonsense”, “That will never work”, or “This will definitely cause trouble”, we are caught in our own belief system and hinder ourselves from thinking outside the box. A lovely friend of mine, working at the Top Management Level of a global company, always told me to ask myself the following question:
“Could it be different?”
Could I be wrong? Is there an alternative way to look at the situation?
And that’s merely the step to falsify yourself: answering this question and finding alternative ways of interpretation.
Great Leaders Question themselves: "Could it be different?Could I be wrong? Is there an alternative way to look at the situation?" Share on X5- Prepare yourself for a good outcome
Now you are ready to see things clearly and get the information and support you need to make an informed, good decision. You might need to consult someone or research a particular topic, but you will at least be able to see the situation from a bird’s eye and handle it calmly and objectively.
Detachment is key when it comes to business
In this article, we discussed the importance of questioning ourselves as Leaders in order to make good decisions, grow our business and grow as individuals.
But these processes require us to detach from negative emotions and feelings related to questioning ourselves, uncertainty and risk.
Falsifying and questioning ourselves has nothing to do with self-doubt or lack of confidence. If we struggle to stay confident and suffer from impostor syndrome or similar, we first need to heal and transform this self-part.
The process of falsification should not trigger our underlying lack of confidence.
