The Science of Surprises (con.)

By Brad Fregger

Brad Fregger is the CEO of 1st World Library.

This event goes beyond coincidence. If I had run into the young man while reading about the phenomena, and discovered that his dad had books on the subject...that would have been a coincidence. This kind of coincidence happens to me fairly often, because I am so passionate about what I am doing, reading, studying at the moment, that I tend to share it with anyone I meet. So, the chances I will share it with someone who has a like interest, or who knows someone who does is fairly likely...but, regardless, it is still coincidence. What makes this example different, is that the coincidental event came exactly when I needed it too. It was as if the event had been planned so that I would achieve the goal that I could not achieve through my own resources. This is synchronicity.

Serendipity is something else entirely. This term comes from the legend of the "Princes of Serendip," a mythical land that some say is the modern day Sri Lanka. These two Princes would make marvelous plans to accomplish wonderful things, set out on the journeys that would lead to their goals...and, because of events beyond their control, never accomplish what they set out to, but always accomplish something even more wonderful.

It is critical to note that the Princes always had a goal in mind, and always made intricate and complete plans to accomplish it. I have heard people say that they aren't making any plans at all, that they are experiencing their lives as a series of serendipitous events. Well, they are wrong. They are not experiencing serendipity, they are experiencing randomness. Serendipity involves planning, followed by events beyond your control, and the openness to take advantage of the unexpected, ultimately accomplishing something beyond what you originally believed possible. The world of science, of business too, is filled with stories of serendipitous events, of times when what was accomplished was very different and much better than the original goal.

Now let's explore the five characteristics I listed above to try and discover the role they play in helping you take advantage of coincidence, synchronicity, and serendipity.

1) Highly intuitive and not afraid to trust those feelings.

When I started to work at Dryken Technologies (we do transaction analysis and data-mining for eCommerce companies) our scientists in Knoxville Tennessee explained the theory, behind the operation of neural networks.

"They operate like human intuition. They analyze massive amounts of data in order to identify unknown, important relationships, providing critical information that could not be determined in any other way."

I'd never thought about human intuition as a natural process of the mind, analyzing massive amounts of data, identifying relationships, and then feeding me critical information that I could not have determined through a logical thought process. But the more I thought about it, the more sense it made. In fact, it was the final piece I needed to explain how I was able to make effective decisions with what appeared to be insufficient information.

What really helped me to understand was thinking back to my years working in and managing a retail menswear store. I was often surprised at how well I could guess what a customer wanted even before they opened their mouth. I would watch them enter the store and walk toward me. By the time they reached me I'd say, "Looking for a gift?" or, "You got a problem I can solve for you?" They'd do a quick double-take, often asking me how I knew. I thought I was being fed the information from some outside source I didn't understand...but that explanation never really made sense to me.

Now, I had another explanation that made much more sense. In addition, it explained another issue that had troubled me. For years I have been hearing psychologists and scientists say that we used only 10% of our brains. This never made sense to me. My understanding of evolution is that if you don't use it, you lose it. While this doesn't necessarily happen at the individual level, I was sure that it happened naturally at the species level. Therefore, if we used only 10% of our brain, what's the rest of it hanging around for? This new concept of the brain analyzing massive amounts of data and then feeding me the information that I needed, solved the problem.

Just think about the amount of raw data that we are exposed to, all of the sounds, sights, scents, feelings, etc. that bombard us continuously. Our senses don't filter out what isn't important; that process is left up to the brain...now I believe I know what a significant percentage of the brain is doing all of the time...acting like a neural network, analyzing data and providing me with information. This means that human intuition isn't some esoteric process involving something outside of ourselves, it's a natural process designed and honed to help us interact successfully with an ever changing environment.

2) Genuinely curious about how others think and the ideas/opinions they have.

A natural curiosity is one of the most critical characteristics needed to lead a successful, effective life. And this will be equally enhancing to your personal and business relationships. With an active curiosity, a very real interest in why things happen, why people think and/or feel the way they do, you don't need a course in active listening.

As a leader, your most important responsibilities include solving problems and handling conflict resolution. The first step in problem-solving and conflict resolution is to gain understanding, and you can only gain understanding by encouraging communication and then listening carefully, being fully open, to what you are being told/shown. While there have been thousands of classes teaching effective techniques for accomplishing this, none of these techniques are worth the time and money spent on them, unless you have an attitude that springs from a real internal need to know what's happening...a real curiosity about what is going on, why he or she feels, or is thinking the way they are.

These conversations lead to effective decision making, lead to knowledge and information that you didn't have before. They provide your brain with the data it needs to make your

 

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