46. Thinking More In Business

“The men who will go farthest in this business, or any other business, are the men who demonstrate that they are thinkers. They are the men who are able to stand on their own feet. Every executive values and is looking for the type of people who are capable of relieving him safely of many of the things he would otherwise have to do himself. The more a man thinks about his job the more responsibility he is able to carry, the more valuable he becomes to himself and the company and the more progress he is able to make.”

- Thomas J. Watson, Sr., IBM Management Principles & Practices, February 1930

Adams smiled. "Well," he said, "since I had that name wished upon me I have given considerable thought to that very question, and I have decided that picking out the obvious thing pre-supposes analysis, and analysis pre-supposes thinking, and I guess Professor Zueblin is right when he says that thinking is the hardest work many people ever have to do, and they don't like to do any more of it than they can help. They look for a royal road through some short cut in the form of a clever scheme or stunt, which they call the obvious thing to do; but calling it doesn't make it so. They don't gather all the facts and then analyze them before deciding what really is the obvious thing, and thereby they overlook the first and most obvious of all business principles. Nearly always that is the difference between the small business man and the big, successful one.

- Robert R. Updegraff, Obvious Adams, 1916

Oliver B. Adams, aka Obvious Adams, was right when he said that thinking is hard and many avoid it, especially in business. We are too quick to decide and instruct rather than question and ponder. How often do we schedule time to sit with ideas? As Mr Watson said, we become more valuable through thinking. The hallmark of a great company is its encouragement to employees to think. The few companies I have seen demonstrate this encouragement through the form of a writing culture. Yes, it is slow and tedious and shouldn't be necessary for all situations but what determines when it shouldn't be used, as opposed to when it should be used? It should be the default that we explain ourselves and offer critical assessments. It should be the norm to allocate time to think deeply. Indeed, “slow is smooth and smooth is fast”.

I love thinking. I enjoy forming explanations and find joy in correcting them. My favorite weekends are those where I have nothing planned except thinking. It is the most consistent habit I have.