I like to invite all of you all of you
right now to take a hike not to leave
but to take a hike with my wife and I on
a beautiful beautiful fall day in
upstate New York now before we take that
hike before we go on that journey I’d
like to set the stage a little bit my
wife and I Deborah live in Manhattan and
we decided one year that we wanted to
get out and wanted to see the leaves
change you know the Northeast is one of
the most beautiful places in the world
to see the foliage change and we decided
we’d go during the middle of a week
because why go on the weekend when
everyone’s you know busy leafing around
looking around let’s go and middle the
week we’ll get up there there’ll be no
one around we’ll have a great time and
so we leave Manhattan and on the way up
we get a flat tire so we have to fix the
flat tire and by the time we get up to
the area we were going which is called
the Gunks in new Paul’s New York it’s a
beautiful era and we went up to a state
park up there we got there around 3:30
now I mentioned it’s a state park
because it was a large state park and
anyone who’s ever driven into Manhattan
or live in Manhattan realizes that
parking spaces are at a premium very
hard to find parking spaces but when we
drove into this National State Park and
we drove into the parking lot
it was just ample parking space we were
just instantly happy and so we look
around where we gonna park and we decide
let’s just park right at the trailhead
so that’s what we do we pull up to the
trailhead and we begin our walk now I
remember the day it was a beautiful
beautiful day the the sky was this
magnificent blue the air was crisp and
clean and um the leaves all they were
just glittering gold and red and we were
just having a great time and my wife and
I were walking holding hands
and we’re laughing and we’re just having
a terrific time and then we realize it’s
getting late we started at 3:30 in the
afternoon it’s the fall so we get a
little concerned that if we don’t start
heading back
we’re gonna get lost we don’t want to do
that so we start hiking back and Debra
and I get back to the car and it is
pitch black it’s pitch black so we
decide we’re feeling so good so up so
energetic that we decide instead of
going back to the bed-and-breakfast and
drop our luggage off we’ll go right out
to dinner we’ll get a great bottle of
red wine we’ll just have a great time
so I turn on the car turn on the lights
drive out of the parking lot feeling
great as we pull out of the parking lot
the headlights illuminate a huge chain
across the exit now first I don’t say
anything I know that Debra and I are
thinking the same thing like what
happened Wow
this whole we’re this part oh the whole
day is destroyed we are locked in a
National State Park on a Wednesday the
cell phone connections don’t even have
one bar what are we gonna do and then I
think I suggested to Debra that maybe
she tried to make a call and she said no
you make the call and before you know it
we’re kind of having this bittering back
and forth and I cannot take it I can’t
take it anymore
so I back up the car the chain the two
posts and I see a little hill back up
the car and I take the car and I Drive
it up the hill and just as I’m about to
drive up the hill Debra says Andy stop
the car so I stopped the car I said
Debra what she said look look at those
rocks if you go up that hill you’re
gonna kill the carriage of the car
destroy the bottom of the car and the
worst part is she was right so let it
back up and and we’re just we’re just
now sitting there staring at this chain
and feeling really I don’t know
depressed I don’t know like
good and then Deborah says four words
four words which changes everything I
mean it just changed everything
and what were those four words that she
said well before I tell you those four
words let me introduce to you a little
mind map the mind map is designed was
designed by a gentleman named a
management guru named Chris arduous
Chris Horace wanted to look at how we
think how do we
what’s our thought process what leads to
a decision into an action and so we
created this metaphor of a ladder with
multiple rungs so I want you to think of
this ladder it’s standing up and the
ladder is surrounded by a pool of data a
large pool of data and from that data
you select data that’s the first rung
you select data and then you kind of add
meaning to that data and then what you
do is you make an assumption the next
rung is the Assumption on the ladder now
an assumption is something that we take
for granted it’s something we treat as a
truth rather than a belief and we often
make it subconsciously so that’s the
next one then the next round of ladder
is that we add meaning the next rung on
the ladder is that we make a decision
and the next one is that we take action
now this is a pretty logical progression
of thoughts it’s what makes a lot of
sense except let’s look back and take a
step back to Deborah and I and what did
Deborah say that changed everything
well she said to me Andy where’s the
lock and I said yeah you know what
Deborah where is the lock and I get out
of the car and I go over to the chain
and all it is it’s just a chain
connected to a post and so I unhooked
the post unhook a chain I walk back to
the car now we’re feeling good and as I
get to the car I look and underneath the
windshield wiper on the driver’s side
my side was a white piece of paper and
it said if you leave the park after five
o’clock just unhook the chain and make
sure you hook it on the way out
okay so let’s step back what happened
Deborah and I saw a chain right and then
we made two assumptions we made the
assumption one that we were locked out
and two we were alone in the situation
there was no one there to help us now
more importantly than that is that once
we invested in those two assumptions
then what happened is we began to focus
on an unrealistic problem that did not
exist
we were not locked out and we were not
alone so what it tells us is that we as
humans have the ability to invest in
assumptions which really do not reflect
our reality in its essence that the
chain create the reality no Deborah and
I created the reality that we were
locked in now some might say well you
know I don’t want to make any
assumptions that’s a that’s a terrible
scenario but I think it’s the greatest
lesson in the world because if our
assumptions have the power to shape our
reality then that means if you’re able
to recognize the assumptions that you
make and then you’re able to manage
those assumptions that you can reshape
your reality you see in life we tend to
invest in assumptions that kind of were
invest in data that fit our assumptions
rather than in life to really verify or
test those that pieces of data that and
then help us make the right assumptions
the ones that are going to lead us to
the goal that we want to get now let me
tell you something it’s kind of
interesting we as human beings really
don’t want to acknowledge that we make
assumptions we have biases against
making assumptions we think it’s a bad
thing because we think it reflects on
our character on our IQ on our
personality on our talent let me give
you an example of how that assumption
should be challenged Orville Wright one
of the brothers that founded modern
aviation when it was suggested to him
that he smooth out the runway that is at
that time they took off in farm fields
with rocks and dongs and holes someone
said hey why don’t you smooth it out and
Oliver Wright said the father of modern
aviation said hey well if we have to
smooth out our runway we do not deserve
to fly
how are you Dini the greatest escape
artist in the world was driving in a new
model car with his friend his friend was
driving he gets out of the car his
friend once they park Houdini doesn’t
get out he’s stuck in the car the friend
comes back says Houdini what come on get
out and Houdini says I can get out of
any box any jail cell but help me get
out of this car because it was a new car
and it had a new design on the door
handle so a simple change in design
stymie the greatest escape artist in the
world so we have to first overcome the
bias that we make assumptions we have to
realize that assumptions are just part
of our decision-making process and the
reason we really don’t want to invest in
that is because if we do invest in our
assumptions and we acknowledge them then
we have to admit that maybe we might not
be right all the time maybe there are
other ways of doing it so let me give
you some ways to identify assumptions
because this is really key remember an
assumption is something you take for
granted it is most often subconscious so
you don’t even know that you’re making
them so let me give you a couple of
phrases that act as symptoms an
assumption is in play the first one is I
can’t we’ve all said that but I can’t is
really an assumption
I can’t assume that you are powerless
but more often not you’re not powerless
you maybe just don’t want to do it right
maybe you’re afraid to try or maybe
you’re afraid to fail
another one is Oh doesn’t anybody
doesn’t anyone get it am I the only one
who gets that
the assumption is that everybody thinks
like you everybody thinks like you and
that is a very dangerous assumption
because it causes miscommunication among
people it causes us often to invest in a
problem that doesn’t really exist so
instead of assuming that the world
thinks like you try to see things
through the eyes of the other individual
that to me is the greatest gift in the
world because what you’re doing by
looking at the eyes through somebody
else by challenging the assumption that
the world doesn’t think like you what
you’re doing is you’re collecting data
and you’re collecting data that begins
to verify your assumptions about an
individual about a problem
so therefore you then can make a greater
chance of success in reaching your goals
and eliminating misunderstanding between
individuals so it’s very very important
to be able to identify your a first
acknowledge that you make assumptions
and then identify that you make
assumptions and the reason is is that
this gives you an opportunity in life in
life to turn around those assumptions
which are holding you back the
assumptions holding you back and you can
leverage those assumptions by exploring
them by challenging them by rejecting
them and that opens up a door that
creates a new opportunity to develop
ideas
and solutions that you never thought
existed before and most importantly by
identifying and then being you’re giving
yourself a chance to explore the
challenge to reject it allows you to
drive out that exit and as you look back
you see your old self still staring at
the chain thank you [Applause]