Being certain about things is good – right? Standing your ground, believing you’re on the money, knowing for sure where you’re heading.
It’s good to work with people who are certain of their opinions, too, isn’t it? Wise, knowledgeable, respected experts who know their own minds and who can guide you along the path to startup success.
Certainty brings clarity and with clarity comes focus – and that’s a good thing. Clarity can stop founders from throwing energy in all directions and being distracted from their goals. However, certainty can also bring inflexibility, entrenched views, and missed opportunity. Certainty can tip over into pig headedness, closed-mindedness, and failing to ask the right questions.
A Long, Long Time Ago…
In 5th century BC Athens it was common to see sophists speaking at public gatherings. Sophists were the content marketers of their day and were skilled at persuading audiences to buy into their thoughts, ideas and belief systems. A young teacher called Socrates started taking part in these debates and over time became a master. So good, in fact, that respectable Athenian society soon christened him the ‘wisest man in Athens’.
Now, that wasn’t a label that sat well with Socrates. He came to think the sophists were wrong. For him, being wise wasn’t about selling your ideas, espousing an opinion, or showing off your knowledge. Being wise, thought Socrates, isn’t about knowing anything at all: “the only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing” – he said.
Embrace Ignorance
If Socrates was an entrepreneur today he’d probably make a good one: open to new ideas, constantly questioning, but with the humility and confidence needed to recognize that he doesn’t know it all.
His philosophy revolved around scrutinizing a topic from a position of ignorance with a view to building understanding about that topic. This became known as the Socratic Method and after his death, was taken forward by his star pupil Plato who wrote a series of ‘dialogues’ or debates using his old teacher’s method to explore and question big philosophical issues like justice, beauty, and courage – topics still discussed today.
Plato gave Socrates the starring role in each of these dialogues and made him the central character. In each debate Socrates would play the part of a simple man who declares that he knows nothing about the subject being debated. In each discussion, Socrates would be talking to an ‘expert’ in the field of enquiry, normally a prominent, respected Athenian with a set of strongly held opinions about the topic – the equivalent of a modern day management consultant perhaps?
Do the Right Thing
In one dialogue, Plato has Socrates quizzing a feared Athenian general about the definition of courage. “What is courage?” asks Socrates. The general is clear: courage is a form of endurance. Case closed it would seem. But then Socrates starts with his questions. He first asks the general whether courage is always a good thing? But, of course – the general replies.
Okay says Socrates, but what about endurance? Aren’t there occasions where endurance might be the wrong thing to do? For example, on the battlefield, is it always best to fight rather than retreat? If he were writing today, he might ask an entrepreneur: is it always best to continue rather than pivot? In either case the answer is ‘no’. So Socrates concludes, if courage is always a good thing but endurance can be a bad thing to do then logically, courage cannot be equated simply to endurance.
Socrates didn’t win this argument because he knew more than the general – indeed he knows little or nothing about military tactics or the battlefield. All that’s happened here is that Socrates has exposed that the general holds contradictory or opposing views which taken together mean that his absolute certainty about the topic needs to be reviewed. To this extent, the Socratic Method not only challenges preconceptions, but it also crucially helps to clarify the topic being discussed. We haven’t necessarily reached the answer to ‘What is courage?’ but we’re closer to it.
Channel the Greeks
Whether we’re debating lofty philosophical ideas or more practical business challenges, we tend to think we’ll find the answer – we’ll reach certainty. But Socrates shows us that whilst argument and debate might not deliver a definitive ‘truth’, engaging in the process of questioning helps everyone understand the issue more. By interrogating an issue or a subject, you’re not looking for a firm answer but in debating the problem – or iterating on an idea – you come out with a far firmer grasp of the problem than you had before.
So how can we incorporate the Socratic method into everyday business life? How can we channel the Ancient Greeks? Quite simply: whenever you believe you have reached a point of absolute certainty – question it. Have the humility and confidence to admit that you don’t have all the answers and whenever you’re 100% sure you’re right – then that’s exactly when you need to be challenged.
And of course, whenever you’re faced with a respected expert who dogmatically tells you that there’s only one possible course of action you should take – just think what Socrates would ask next.
Photo Courtesy: Duncan Hull