May 5, 2009
The “Right Answer” Myth
An elementary school teacher gave her first graders a coloring assignment. The sheet of paper contained an outline of different objects like a house, trees, sky e.t..c and the children were asked to color each of the objects with the appropriate color. Patty worked really hard on her assignment but when she got it back, she was surprised to see a big black “X” on it. When she asked the teacher for an explanation, the teacher said “I gave you an “X” because you didn’t follow the instructions. Grass is green not grey. The sky should be blue and not yellow as you have drawn it. Why didn’t you use the normal colors Patty?”
Patty answered, “Because that’s how it looks to me when I get up early to watch the sunrise.”
Similar to what the teacher did, we all start looking for “The Right Answer” when we face a problem. Once we find an answer that we assume to be “The Right Answer” , we stop looking. This right answer myth is a big barrier when we are trying to get good ideas because as soon as we get one good idea, we consider the problem solved. A french philosopher once said:
“Nothing is more dangerous that an idea when it is the only one we have.”
For an effective thought process, we need different point of views. Picking the first answer to a problem, or the first idea that comes to mind is quite risky as it is based on a single point of view. Best practice is not to stop once you have an idea, but to continue and get a lot of ideas so you can compare them with each other and see which one is more applicable to the problem you are facing. Noble prize winner Linus Pauling said:
“The best way to get a good idea is to get a lot of ideas.”
It is important that once we get an idea, we try to think of other ideas to solve the same problem. One way to do it is to look for “the second best idea” or ” the wrong idea” e.t.c. Even if you end up chosing the first idea you thought of, rest of the ideas would give you a good point of comparison and would help you improve your original idea. You might be able to pick a couple of things from the “second best idea” or eliminate some details that you now realize are “wrong”.
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Hey Tehseen,
This is a great post! You write very well. I love the story of the little girl and how the sky looked to her in the morning. Good wake-up call for us adults.
Thanks for the kind words Daphne
The story really made me realize that “Right” and “Wrong” are always subjective things. We should always have an open mind and try to see beyond the conventional beliefs.
Lovely post…And yeah Right and Wrong are often subjective..wonder if morality can be up for scrutiny as well…haha
Great blog
Cheers
Your story reminds me of the Harry Chapin song — “Flowers are Red” (one of my all-time favorites). While the quality of our educators is not the focus of your post, it made me reflect on a few of the really positive teachers that my children have had growing up (and the rest).
Thanks for suggesting ‘looking for the second best idea’. I often throw this out to my management team to remind them to ‘be curious, ask questions’ when working with staff members and clients. Considering other alternatives or view points almost always adds to the quality of the final solution.
Great post.
@Usha: I think we all scrutinize morality each and every day and judge people per our own criteria
@Tom: Cannot agree enough with you Tom, Teachers have so much influence and power in developing our mindsets. What we learn at that tender age is strongly embedded within us for the rest of our lives.