Why everything you thought you knew about yourself is wrong

That headline caught my eye on Tuesday evening. Based on a recently published book, a two page spread in the i newspaper eloquently explained a handful of ways in which we mislead ourselves every day. “You are an unreliable narrator and this is because you’re unaware of how unaware you are,” says David McRaney, the book’s author. One paragraph resonated particularly strongly: “The misconception: your opinions are the result of years of rational, objective analysis. The truth: your opinions are the result of years of paying attention to information that confirmed what you believed, while ignoring information that challenged your preconceived notions.”

This is superb news! I have always assumed, for instance, that my chances of being the next face of L’Oreal are slim and that my chances of winning the Nobel Peace Prize are slimmer still. Well whadya know?

Equally interestingly (if a little less excitingly) I’d spent my day focused on ERP in the public sector, wrestling with the output of an online survey and interviews with partners in consulting firms, and attempting to force these many threads into one coherent story. But the article above gave me cause to reflect. First of all it made me consider the views I had heard in a slightly different light – how aware were the holders of strong opinions that these opinions may not be quite as well founded as they believed? Is there scope for consultants to be less opinionated or is this what clients demand? Had I, in attempting to efficiently deliver a clear message, implicitly chosen to ignore some of the data that didn’t quite fit the direction I wanted to go? And how open would my audience be to me presenting the numerous strands present in the original data?

Well, I’ll soon find out. The report is due to be delivered to my client later this week – and to a wider audience at a breakfast seminar on the 29th  November in Central London. And if you’re interested in attending the event to hear our findings on where ERP in the public sector is heading as well as well as sharing your opinions with your consulting colleagues, please contact Alice.Noyelle@sourceforconsulting.com. Whether or not I’m there with you will, of course, depend entirely on whether the world’s leading fashion houses need me in Paris that day.

Note: The book mentioned is ‘You are not so smart: why your memory is mostly fiction, why you have too many friends on Facebook and 46 other ways you’re deluding yourself.’