Despite having loved Donald Rumsfeld's "unknown unknowns" for years, I only recently learned its origin: the Johari window. The "window" is a 2x2 grid of four boxes with axes of "known to self" and "known to others." https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2c/Johari_Window.PNG The Johari window was developed by two psychologists in the 1950s, Joseph Luft and Harrington Ingham, as … Continue reading On using the Johari window to orient project process
Tag: problem-solving
On functional fixedness
This didn't strike me as a bias at first. Though perhaps I'm so deeply affected by it that I resist the category. Closely related to the law of the instrument, functional fixedness is the cognitive bias describing the inability to consider the use of an object outside its typical function. Overcoming any cognitive bias is … Continue reading On functional fixedness
On how leaders assume responsibility for problems
"It's not my problem." Not something you'll ever catch a leader saying. "Your problem is my problem" is more like it. This thinking does not come naturally to me. My tendency has long been to shrug and shuffle away from the center of things, even if that leaves a void, no one solving the problem … Continue reading On how leaders assume responsibility for problems
On Dan Heath’s 3 barriers to upstream problem-solving
Since I finished Dan Heath's thoughtful book Upstream a few weeks ago, I've been more or less continuously meditating on his premise of "upstream" problem-solving. Heath suggests that everyone spends too much time solving problems once they have become problems rather than solving problems before they happen. It would be wonderful, of course, if we … Continue reading On Dan Heath’s 3 barriers to upstream problem-solving
How to make difficult decisions easier with the Six Thinking Hats
Do we want to buy this house? My wife faced this question over and over again on our house hunt last year. No surprise there, exactly. What was surprising was how quickly we needed to answer that question. The speedy Denver market allowed little, if any, time for reflection. A desirable house would appear on … Continue reading How to make difficult decisions easier with the Six Thinking Hats
Taylor Coe 
