Beware Twitter friendly headlines.

Hooks and confirmation bias

A hook is a compelling opening sentence or paragraph designed to grab your reader's attention.

Twitter weaponised the hook and turned it into a Twitter-friendly headline that became clickbait and has spread across the internet. This trend has inevitably led to misleading statements, stories, and articles that are taken out of context or outright false.

The fields of leadership, coaching and productivity, more broadly, the expansive self-help genre, are certainly not immune. No doubt many of you will have come across this fascinating image and the "invaluable leadership lesson" we all can learn from the wolf pack...

These headlines and stories play us. At first blush, they may even make intuitive sense and often, they will support one's prior beliefs or values (where the powerful cognitive confirmation bias trips so many aspiring leaders up).

The caption is not true.

A few minutes spent searching is often enough to test what we read, either to corroborate or, as in this case, dispute it. As the international wolf centre says, based on your experience of walking through deep snow (which is really hard work), would it make sense to make the old and sick expend additional energy forging the way? No, of course, it doesn't.

Here is the latest Twitter-friendly headline that intrigued me and had me pondering:

No One Wants to Go Back to the Office As Much As White Men

As a compelling hook, it is hard to do better. Intuitively it even seems believable.

This article about going back to the office actually refers to the article "Who Wants To Return To The Office?" Still, Twitter-friendly but not so charged and has less of a compelling hook.

The "research" that this is based on is from a survey:

I find myself asking so many questions that, because the survey isn't public, I cannot answer. For example, in the study, did they ask the 10,000 respondents:

• What is their age?

• What is their income band?

• How long have they been working?

• Do they have children?

• If so, the age of their children?

• Do they own their own home?

• Where do they work and WFH, is there dedicated space?

There may be a correlation between being a white male and attitude toward returning to the office, but correlation does not imply causation. A positive or negative association between two variables does not necessarily mean that a change in one of the variables is causing the change in the other.

Wouldn't it have been more useful to seek out the underlying causes for people wanting to return to the office,  even if that isn't such a Twitter-friendly headline? More useful doesn't necessarily equate to clicks, views and hence monetisation.

This is important because our information supply channel moves from

1) Production to

2) Dissemination and finally, to

3) Regulation.

i.e. Over the medium term, academia studies something (or, in this case, private companies), and they write up a paper. The media reports on it. And then the government regulates on that basis.

ACADEMIC RESEARCH > MEDIA REPORTING > GOVERNMENT LEGISLATION

This is why seeking diverse opinions, different points of view, feedback and challenge for our ideas is essential. This way, we get to see if there are any holes in our ideas and try to improve our reasoning and thinking to come up with a more compelling solution.

📫 - Favourite quote

"No one ever listened themselves out of a job."

Celeste Headlee (American journalist)

This is one of my favourite quotes and comes from an excellent TED talk.

Listening really is the most important of our five senses for effective leadership - find out more here.

🧐 - Newly discovered content of interest

An expose from Netflix, Downfall: The Case Against Boeing.

This is worth watching for anyone interested in corporate and cultural values. I previously wrote about this topic and the organisations that do not stay true to the things they say matter the most (their values):

• Enron - "Integrity"

• Wells Fargo - "what's right for customers."

• Boeing - "safety"

"Values help set a company apart from the competition by clarifying its identity and serving as a rallying point for employees. An organisation's values and the corporate brand are closely aligned hence brand values. Think of the most successful or admired companies, and you will be thinking of their brand. A company's brand represents people's perception of a company from its reputation for quality and customer service through to how innovative it is or its impact on the environment."

🧾 - An absorbing and insightful (short) read

In this article, the author references the mental model for capturing future value in technology companies, what they refer to as durability:

Durability = Network effects + Economics of Scale + Brand + Embedding + IP

As I read the article, I couldn't help but compare this with how we go through our careers. For example, should we carve out the time from a hectic schedule to build, develop and maintain professional relationships?

Here are my initial thoughts on transposing the durability mental model to one’s career:

• Network  = Developing relationships.

• Economies of scale = Becoming a connector.

• Branding = What words do people think of when they hear my name?

• Embedding = Become indispensable.

• IP = The deep, not shallow work.

🐣 - Something I am doing differently or entirely new

I am listening to a new podcast! I had become stuck in my ways, always returning to the same podcasts each week. I hadn't been role modelling, following up on recommendations for new content, whether books, blogs, videos or podcasts. So I am glad I finally listened to my brother who had told me about ALL-IN PODCAST. You can find this video on YouTube or on your favourite podcast player.

I love it. The hosts are fascinating to listen to as their animated discussions cover all things economic, tech, political, social and poker.

Don't get stuck in your ways as I did. Seek out new sources of news, information, and points of view - especially if you don't find yourself immediately agreeing.

⚖ - Et cetera

Perhaps the following will provide insight and be of help with a problem you are currently facing:

• Do you need a new perspective on a challenge you're struggling with?

• Are you starting a new role and want to make a positive impact and quickly establish credibility?

• My latest articles from the blog are here:

  • "Nature versus Nurture and the hidden influences on the leaders we become."

  • "Two very different perspectives on how to use coaching."

• The RYSE Journal - 5* "Critical management tool" and 5* "Excellent practical self-coaching tool."

All the best, until next month.

Rob