60: Shane Snow, Why Being Wrong Is Actually Right

May 14, 2018

“We can hold onto things that are dear to us, but sometimes the fact that they’re dear to us makes it about us and not the idea.” - Shane Snow

(click to tweet)

Intellectual humility opens the gateways to productive conversation.

But those who are certain in their beliefs don’t see it this way. When we find ourselves in discussions with these individuals, we are unable to push the needle, trapped in their bounds of thinking. Progress in any political conversation, business decision, or personal conflict requires an intellectual humility, that openness to accept that you and your opinion may in fact be wrong.

On today’s episode of The MentorBox Podcast, we are joined by Shane Snow. Shane is the founder of the marketing company, Contently, and the author of Dream Teams: Working Together Without Falling Apart. As a journalist, Shane has contributed to The New Yorker, Washington Post, and more. In this discussion, he covers everything from politics to philosophy, and life to death —and answers the question where these topics should be placed in business and social culture. Tune in to hear Shane’s insights and apply them to your political and personal conversations.  

You can order Shane Snow’s Dream Teams: Working Together Without Falling Apart here  

“Is political viewpoint diversity, say specifically in America—left vs. right, and along that spectrum—the most important kind of diversity we are lacking in our thinking for the problems we are trying to solve?” - Shane Snow

(click to tweet)

Points to Keep In Mind

• What makes a workplace comfortable is inversely related to what makes it innovative
• Research shows that boardrooms with gender diversity make fewer terrible decisions and those companies grow faster
• Research shows that companies with more diverse employees have higher turnover
• With the rise of murder podcasts, people are starting to change their views on the death penalty
• If you’re not willing to revise your viewpoint on something, you won’t get anywhere
• Recognize when faith becomes impervious to disproof
• • Sometimes when we hold beliefs dear to us, it becomes about us and not the idea
• The science shows that we have inaccurate representations of how open-minded we are
• Progress comes from being proved wrong
• Science isn’t truth because it still operates within a framework of language, symbols, identifiers, etc.
• Try to view the negative externalities within ethical and moral discussions
• Political decisions should follow a priority of relevance
• Political viewpoint diversity gets misplaced as the important type of diversity in our political debates
• Research shows that you think harder and more creatively when put in a group with people who think differently