The one-sentence summary

The greatest gift we can offer each other is the framework in which to think for ourselves.

WHAT THE BOOK SAYS MORE TIME TO THINK

  • The greatest gift we can offer each other is the framework in which to think for ourselves.
  • We are living in an epidemic of obedience. We need a more thoughtful way of being in the world, and a stronger ability to think properly.
  • Better meetings, better trusted leadership, better relationships – all are possible if good thinking is allowed.
  • There are ten components to the Thinking Environment:
  1. Attention (a deep interest in what someone thinks)
  2. Equality (regardless of status)
  3. Ease (if you are at ease yourself, people think better around you)
  4. Appreciation (appreciate people 5 times more than you criticise them)
  5. Encouragement (build their courage to go to the unexplored edge)
  6. Information (this needs to be accurate and complete)
  7. Feelings (expression of these should be welcomed)
  8. Diversity (differences in cultures and identities can be fertile)
  9. Incisive questions (these replace untrue limiting assumptions)
  10. Place (this must suggest ‘you matter’ and not be sterile or barren)

WHAT’S GOOD ABOUT IT

  • This equation is wrong:
  • Rushed = important
  • Tense = focused
  • Tight = professional
  • Pressured = alive. None of this is true.
  • Adventurer Priests listen hard and generously because they want to know what the other person really thinks.
  • Withholding information is intellectual vandalism. We need to dismantle denial  (the assumption that what is not true, is).
  • The author sets great store by the precise wording of questions, such as:

Do I want to know what this person really thinks?

Do I know how to help them think at their best?

Given that the assumption you are making is stopping you from reaching your goal, what would you credibly have to assume instead in order for you to reach your goal?

WHAT YOU HAVE TO WATCH

  • The method is in there, but you have to dig quite hard for it.
  • Some of the observations are quite spiritual so it won’t suit everybody.