The simplest strategy strength-test there ever was
Jonathan Haidt spent years working with anthropologist Richard Shweder at the University of Chicago, and his top takeaway/mental rule of thumb from the encounter is a doozy.
If someone asserts it, try denying it and see if that makes sense. If someone denies it, try asserting it and see if that makes sense.
“It’s a great way to overcome confirmation bias and to try on new ideas,” Haidt has put it, and the experience on the whole, “really changed me and prepared me to step out of my prior politics, my prior moralism, my prior self-righteousness.”
A strategy is, among other things, a theory of success. And so the Schweder test applies. It seems to me the simplest strategy strength-test there is, but there is a catch. You want this questioning-opposing-force to come from a friend first.
No strategy should go untested by loyal opposition. You should never, ever, ever roll out a strategy that hasn't been tested by a friend first.
Why doesn't that happen?
Often it's the simple fact that people don't like to have their work questioned by others. Particularly friends and colleagues. It subjects them to criticism and ridicule and everyone becomes aware of their mistakes in a public forum.
It can be humiliating. Excruciating. Debilitating.
And it can have internal consequences. You may get knocked off a pedestal others have put you on at work. You may not see as speedy a promotion as you might've otherwise seen. Others might see you differently.
All because you deliberately subjected your work to other’s scrutiny. There's no actual glory in it. You can't beat the adversary during a diagnostic. There's no upside...or…
…except for one little thing. It'll make you stronger for when you actually do meet your adversary.
If you've uncovered a flaw prior to the fight, that's a small win.
If you've found an assumption that isn't true, that's a small win.
If you've identified a missing critical resource, that's a small win.
If you spot an error, that's a small win.
If you gain organizational coherence and confidence, that's a small win.
If you recognize a previously unidentified way forward, that's a small win.
To subject your ideas and strategy to friendly feedback and careful criticism is uncomfortable, difficult, and by far the best way of advancing to the battlefield with a strength-tested strategy. It’s worth it.