“Summing it all up, friends, I’d say you’ll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious—the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse.” – St. Paul (Philippians 4:8 – The Message)
Bear with me today. I want to connect some seemingly unrelated ideas into a more compelling argument for remaining intellectually and emotionally agile.
The one time I endorse Revisionist History
A butterfly or merely an improved worm?
I am a fan of Malcolm Gladwell’s writing, and I have been listening to his new podcast titled “Revisionist History.” During some recent travel, I listened to several episodes, and was struck by two ideas I wrote down to share with you. In one episode, Gladwell recounts the story of how NBA legend Wilt Chamberlain scored an unmatched 100 points in a single game. Part of the reason the 7′ 1″ superstar was able to score so many points was that for that one game only, he shot free throws underhanded — a technique made famous, but not popular, by NBA Hall-of-Famer Rick Barry.
Gladwell marvels that after his record=breaking score, Chamberlain never used the underhand technique again in his career. One would think — and Rick Barry says so — that Chamberlain would have been an even more significant asset to his team, if he had continued to use what had worked so well. Keep in mind that Barry still has one of the highest free throw percentages in NBA history, so he is the expert. But Chamberlain reverted to the conventional and less accurate shooting method. Gladwell adds that Wilt Chamberlain was not the only man to persist using an inferior method. Only two players in the NCAA use the Barry method — and one of them is Barry’s son.
In a separate episode, Gladwell explores what economist David Galenson calls Experimental Innovation by tracing the revisions and iterations taken by two songwriters — Elvis Costello and Leonard Cohen — of their respective songs. In the latter’s case, Gladwell explains the years-long path that Cohen’s song “Hallelujah” took from his own many drafts to John Cale’s cover, to Jeff Buckley’s cover of Cale’s version to Buckley’s untimely death and posthumous success to the classic status the song now enjoys. None of this would have happened if Cohen had not been the sort to revisit his assumptions, and to rewrite remorselessly.
The contrasting creative style, according to Galenson, is Conceptual Innovation. A conceptual innovator tends to create earlier in his life — or perhaps he completes more works earlier in his career — because he tends to formulate a more exact plan and execute according to it with minimal editing after the fact. If Cohen and Costello are Experimental Innovators, the artist Pablo Picasso is a Conceptual Innovator.
Then I heard a TED Talk
Quite providentially, the next podcast I listened to was a TED Talk given by Julia Galef, a noted skeptic, who told the story of the Dreyfus affair — the case of a French artillery captain, Alfred Dreyfus, who lost his commission and his freedom after being falsely accused and imprisoned for treason. Dreyfus was Jewish, and anti-Semitism among his fellow officers contributed to the miscarriage of justice. A fellow officer, Lt. Col. Georges Picquart, worked ten years to clear Dreyfus’ name, despite his own prejudice against Jews. Galef says this persistence resulted from Picquart’s innate sense of curiosity and desire to identify the real culprit.
Scout vs. Soldier Mindset
Galef coined two metaphors to characterize the mindset of Picquart and that of his fellow officers. The soldier mindset is the practitioner of what Galef calls motivated reasoning. This way of thinking also belongs to the category known as confirmation bias. Those of a soldier mindset tend to argue more vigorously for their biases and tend to discount the arguments of their critics, while at the same time finding fault with arguments or data that conflict with their settled assumptions.
The Scout Mindset appears less focused on a specific end result. instead, it is open to consider contrary arguments and to cede valid points. Col. Picquart in her telling was motivated by a desire to find the truth of the Dreyfus case — wherever it led.
Here in the real world
I thought the Galenson characterizations and the Galef mindset metaphors were interesting in their overlap and their application in the lives of men. If you are following the US presidential election cycle, you can see both creative processes and both mindsets at work on the left and the right.
Those of the political left charge that their opposite numbers on the right only read websites, blogs and newspapers that agree with their home truths. Those on the right accuse their opposite numbers of inhabiting a liberal echo chamber. Here we see the Soldier Mindset in full flower — at least among the most outspoken. But what about the creative strategies?
Both major candidates — or their campaign staffs — appear to be experimental innovators. If we were scoring on the candidates alone, the flatter — some would say non-existent — campaign organization of Donald Trump suggests him to be a natural Experimental Innovator. Whether it comes from the candidate or from an influential campaign manager or consultant, both parties are testing and iterating constantly, measuring effectiveness through polling data, as they seek to win on election day.
A couple of Old Testament examples
If you’ve been reading here awhile, you know I admire King Solomon and the wisdom shared in the biblical book of Proverbs. Elsewhere we’ve talked about how Solomon departed from sound judgment at the end of his life. I submit to you that Solomon embodied the Soldier Mindset — being so invested in what he wanted that he failed to consider the consequences, and persisting against wisdom — like Wilt Chamberlain did — along a less effective course.
But let’s contrast Solomon with Caleb, a man we encounter in the Old Testament books of Joshua and Numbers. Moses had sent Caleb and Joshua and some of their fellow Israelites to collect intelligence on the Promised Land. Everyone except Caleb and Joshua looked at the size of the people living there and their fortifications and were too scared to obey God. So God caused them to wander in the desert another 40 years as a judgment for their unbelief. When only Joshua and Caleb were left from the scouting party, Caleb was 85 years old. Even then he was open to new ideas and asked for the portion of land with the biggest, baddest foes. That’s the Scout Mindset!
And in my life
I see benefits of both creative processes, and I believe each of us likely is more of one type than the other. I tend to be more of a “first-thought-best-thought” creative, but I have learned not to fear the re-write. Similarly, I can think of certain areas where having a Soldier Mindset is an advantage. Faithfulness in marriage is the most vivid example. But within that solid commitment, having a Scout Mindset can keep you growing within your marriage. And we haven’t talked about how being agile can enhance your career.
Spelling it out
I recommend taking some time to review some of your past decisions to notice how you came to each decision. Did you plan and then act, or did you begin and adapt as you went along? Are you willing to listen to other points of view without unfriending people with whom you disagree? Are you allergic to a better idea?
Don’t forget, we are not captive to our thoughts. We can choose them — and we should. In his second letter to the church at Corinth, St. Paul wrote:
We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ…” (2 Corinthians 10:5 – ESV)
If we can take thoughts captive, then clearly you and I can “change the channel” of our thoughts and be generous to our neighbors, even the disagreeable ones. But there’s something more important here. We have covered it before, but we need to remember that our feelings begin with our thoughts. Thoughts lead to feelings, feelings lead to actions, and actions lead to habits.
This taking thoughts captive and replacing them with more positive and godly thoughts will improve our feelings and dispositions and lead to more noble actions. Over time, that leads to noble character and a good name — or as I like to call it, the best possible version of yourself.
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