The Wimbledon tennis final of 1975, saw an aging Arthur Ashe taking on a young Jimmy Connors. The year before Connors had 'trashed' an over the hill Ken Rosewall.
1975 too was expected to be wash out in favor of the brilliant Connors. As, the match progressed it became evident that, Ashe had other ideas and Connor's swagger soon disappeared and he was beaten in four sets.Ashe played brilliant tennis, returning the ball to Connor's feet, all the time, a strategy Connors could not unravel or deal with.As they left the Centre Court the young 'buck' Connors had a dazed look on his sweat stained face.
I recently, gave my first year management students, a case where they are on a sinking ship, in the middle of the Pacific Ocean and have fifteen items for survival. They have all the details and are just to rank these items in the right order. The ranking that they got was all wrong!Should it have been real life, none would have survived!
Are the two issues detailed above linked in any way? I think they are. All problems are generally of two types, either they are puzzles, where we do not have full information or they are mysteries, where we have full information, but do not have the experience to assimilate, understand and act on this information. Looking back, in both cases, the problems were mysteries, where there was a lack of experience in dealing with situation.
Towards the end of World War 2, the Americans, threw in their latest heavy bombers to precision bomb, ball bearing factories in Germany. Why? The Americans figured that without ball bearings much of German machinery and aircraft would go kaput......Did the Americans, level these factories ? They did, with horrendous losses, in Aircraft and men. Did it hinder the German war effort? No, because the German's had BB's stashed away elsewhere & when they felt a shortage simply changed design and went along.This was a puzzle, where the Americans acted in haste without garnering full information.
It is the reason, why good organizations, want a diverse crowd, who crack puzzles & mysteries, as they surface without choking or making serious errors!
I explore the last frontier..............humans!
4 comments:
I feel mysteries can be cracked by us (particularly our generation who loves to act in speed)..just a vital part is missing..patience. We don't give much thought before acting and reacting and that's the reason why we ignore the bigger picture. This patience come from experience and it will take time..At times acting spontaneously can work out but that spontaneity is outcome of some or other previous experience..I have learned it in my internship, where all the people in my organization were in their late forty's. they have something which they have learned over a period of time..and my generation cannot match it but can learn it.
Chhavi,
Mysteries need experience to crack, while puzzles require thorough accumalation of details and information.
Youngsters, hence excel in solving puzzles, where a lot of energy is called for.
Acting in haste, is not going to get anybody anywhere, whether it is a puzzle or a mystery!
Sir I completely agree with you on this..acting in haste definitely leads one to make mistakes..
Hi,
Probably we could follow each other's blogs!
Cheers...
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