Discover the best "me" in the future

 　　Have you ever had the experience of hiring a candidate without carefully evaluating their work experience and historical background? For most leaders of large companies, the answer is no. Organizations often make hiring decisions based on a candidate's past experience. On the face of it, this makes sense: prior experience means having the expertise needed to take on the new role. However, a growing body of research shows that this method of recruiting is becoming obsolete.

　　Jacob Morgan interviewed more than 140 CEOs around the world and surveyed more than 14,000 LinkedIn users to find the correlation between past experience and the present in a rapidly changing world is falling. Developing the leaders the future needs is key. Understanding, developing, and advancing leaders to their greatest potential is a powerful way to "future" leaders and organizations. "Futurization" here refers to building a future-oriented perspective that helps people shape their best selves in the future in relation to emerging businesses. This finding replaces the view that people are static assets that never change.

　　Now is the time for leaders to fully tap into the value of "possibility thinking," a future-oriented mindset and lifestyle that targets the future and guides choices in the present.

Possibilities and the present

　　The term "possibility" is often questioned. Achieving the greatest likelihood of a person's future is obviously important, but likelihood is often seen as a "soft" variable, an unknown, uncertain and not present. People often feel at a loss when thinking about it. In fact, our brains are built to assume the future through a default mode network (DMN).

　　The default mode network, which Italian neuroscientist Stefano Sandrone calls the "crystal ball" of the human brain, helps leaders predict the future and take action. At the same time, it is also responsible for the part of a person's self-awareness, who you think you are today. The concept of "who you are" largely overlaps with, and has profound implications for, the idea of ​​who you might be.

　　In his 2009 book On Becoming a Leader, Warren Bennis, the father of leadership, neatly summed up who you are and what you could be. relationship between people”. In his book, he writes: "Being a leader is equal to being yourself." Leaders truly become leaders by thinking about how to be the best version of themselves they can be in the future. When leaders develop relationships with their most likely future selves, they create the greatest chance of success for themselves and the business.

can you really change yourself

　　The brain has 100 billion neurons and 100 trillion connections (synapses). The default mode network is part of a large-scale brain network, and there is abundant evidence that its connections are not fixed. The default mode network, as well as a person's sense of self, can be disrupted by other factors, including hallucinations, meditation, and creativity, and this disruption can allow us to reshape our sense of self. In short, "who you are" is not a fixed concept at all. "You" can be changed. That being the case, why not try your best chance? Why not help others achieve their greatest potential as well?

future operating system

　　Another way to understand possibility thinking is to think of it as the operating system of the mind. Specific inputs provide outputs that increase likelihood and help leaders make the most of their future self. Leaders may wish to use the seven dimensions of possibility thinking as input for personal self-development, while helping others understand their own possibilities.

　　1. Change is possible Tell people that because the brain can change, they can change with it. Change often starts with imagination.

　　2. Looking to the future ideal self is the opposite of probabilistic thinking rooted in the past, which is rooted in looking to the future. People can learn to "make themselves available to the future," that is, to shape themselves and make choices based on imagined futures.

　　3. Raising the bar Once possibility thinking has been established as a clear vision, the next step is to raise the bar in an achievable way, with the goal of “perfecting self-esteem.” Simply adapting to constant change will make you feel the same every day, it's just about maintaining self-esteem, and raising the bar of personal goals and self-expectations will make you more motivated. Improving self-esteem is a process of self-improvement.

　　4. Overcome Obstacles When it's hard to imagine who you might be in the future, you need to overcome the hurdles facing possibility thinking. Tired, lost, stuck, obsessed with old habits, depressed, anxious, worried, pessimistic, giving up, unimaginative, all of these factors limit the possibility of thinking. At the Duke Institute for Corporate Education, we use the Likelihood Index to measure a person's perception of possibility and identify any barriers that limit thinking about possibility. Course directors can then overcome these obstacles in a very targeted manner.

　　5. Positive Disintegration If after all obstacles have been identified and overcome, possibility thinking is still not fully developed, the aid of "positive disintegration" may be required. This requires us to consider being a completely different person based on our best and most valuable selves. The 20th-century Polish psychiatrist Kazimierz Dabrowski noted that gifted students progress naturally in "positively divided" ways because they stimulate an innate "hyperexcitability" (overexcitability), the ability to come together despite being internally divided to reshape the self on a higher level. We can all take this approach.

　　6. Stay motivated To stay motivated on the path of possibility thinking, focus on competence, autonomy, and social connections. How did you perform on each item? How do you keep improving? In self-determination, these three aspects are crucial because they may affect whether you can keep going.

　　7. Never limit your achievements Business growth bottlenecks often reflect what management consultants George Parsons and Richard Pascale described in 2007 as a "peak career crisis." The reason why this happens is that the company is drifting away from the formula for success and the core mission. In Aristotle's view, mission is not necessarily about purpose, but about the opportunity to display one's greatest virtues. By identifying bottlenecks in business development, we can recapture the success formula or core mission.

Use the Possibilities Mindset

　　Possibilities thinking can be applied in a wide variety of settings in an organization. To achieve the best possible results, we use a technology called Reulay (www.reulay.com). It is an online platform that allows people to perceive the existence of possibility and the power of self-direction, while helping them achieve a shift in their thinking frame. In addition, the platform also facilitates personalized interventions.

　　The beginning of using possibility thinking is obviously at the time of onboarding. Asking people how they imagine their future selves will give you an idea of ​​how open they are to change and whether they can receive guidance to get there.

　　Possibilities thinking should also be used to identify high-potential leaders. High potentials are often considered "next generation" leaders based on past performance and actions. However, there is another way to help talented people grow by introducing them to possibility thinking. There are many key issues to consider here.

　　Are you willing to accept change? Do you believe you can change? Are you determined to change? People usually say they are open to change, but committing to change requires us to keep track of progress and make sure that change is happening. It’s important to help people distinguish the difference between assumptions, which require little commitment but just a gesture of hope for change, and probabilities, which focus on making possibilities a reality.

　　In your current role, what is the greatest possibility you can imagine? What is your greatest chance at this company? What is the greatest possibility in your life? People tend to be cautious when answering these questions because they want the answer to sound plausible. They may need some help making bold assumptions. Counterfactual questions can do this, for example by asking, "What do you think would be a breakthrough in your current role?"

　　Now that a possible future has been envisioned, how can you raise the bar on that? If someone says their best chance is to make enough money to leave and become an entrepreneur, you might ask, "What about the social and material aspects of your life?" It's important to consider the upper limit of one's thinking about possibilities. Mark Bonchek, who specialises in fostering innovation, emphasises that people need to avoid "incremental thinking". People should pursue goals that are radically different from the past, not just limited to slight improvements. If the likelihood target feels familiar, you haven't raised the bar high enough.

　　What are the factors that limit the possibilities? You can use the Likelihood Index to identify constraints while helping individuals or teams clear those barriers. Being able to find and deal with the biggest factors limiting possibilities is a good start.

　　What is the gap between "Who are you now" and "Who do you want to be"? How does a gap like this expose your fundamental values? These questions may contribute to the positive division of the individual. For example, if a person values ​​the Olympic spirit, he may not have a winning mentality. Or if a person wants to be a more all-rounder, a more all-round husband or father, he might consider working more efficiently to free up time for other things.

　　Are you doing what you do best? What improvements excite you the most? Follow self-determination and consider your own abilities. Are you in a place that matches your abilities? Can you excel there? Next, we focus on autonomy, by examining how hierarchies of analysis shape people's control over their work, and how these hierarchies can be flattened. The last thing to consider is social connections, which is helping people really connect with their teams and build team spirit.

　　Do you have the opportunity to display your greatest virtues? Huatian Wang of Eindhoven University of Technology and her colleagues at Utrecht University describe "job crafting" as a process of changing tasks, relationships Or the behavior of the cognitive boundaries of work. It can help reduce burnout, which is precisely the kind of burnout that kills people's thinking of possibilities. For example, a product engineer might want to have more say in the design. As a leader, you can help them explore ways to achieve this.

cultural shift

　　All in all, possibility thinking is actually a cultural shift. It won't work best if it's only used when onboarding or working with high-potential leaders. Only when a culture is aligned with the best possible future can organizations move from "knowing" to "discovering" the best way forward.

　　In a world with an uncertain future, a corporate culture rooted in the thinking of possibility inspires struggle, openness, and creative solutions. That's why Jeff Bezos always looks to think two or three years from now. That's why Steve Jobs said, "Have the courage to follow your heart and your intuition. They know who you want to be."

　　Let the future guide your decisions today, and the possibilities are endless.