03-Mar-23 Rethink your debating strategy today!

Hey Friends,

This week I was reading the book “Think Again” by Adam Grant, which is a great read for me as it challenged me to reconsider my beliefs and embrace the art of rethinking. Through compelling stories and research-backed insights, Grant offers a roadmap for how to think more critically, argue more effectively, and ultimately make better decisions.

As someone who works in consulting, I know firsthand how important it is to have intellectual discussions and co-create the best possible strategies. But let's be real, sometimes those discussions can get pretty heated and it can be tough to de-escalate the situation. In “Think Again” suggested a few strategies that we can adopt by “thinking again”

1. Express curiosity

One of the strategies he suggests is to show curiosity by asking questions like, "So you don't see any merit in this proposal?" or "What evidence would change your mind?" when an argument gets heated. The worst case scenario will be the person responds with the answer “no” or "nothing," while at least then you can comfortably end the discussion knowing that there is nothing you can do. However, in other cases, you may learn something about what the person may be amenable to and find a way to move forward more productively.

2. Less Is More

When presenting your argument, it can be tempting to provide a long list of reasons to support your case. However, this can actually weaken your argument by giving the other person more opportunities to find flaws in your weakest points. Instead, try to focus on a few key reasons that are the strongest and most compelling. This will make it harder for the other person to poke holes in your argument and dismiss it entirely.

3. Take cultural differences into consideration

Different cultures have varying approaches to learning and understanding the world. Some cultures emphasize presenting conceptual principles before moving on to conclusions, while others prefer a practical, concrete approach with an executive summary or bullet points. For instance, the Principle First approach is prevalent in Scandinavian, Latin, and Germanic cultures, while the Application First approach is more common in English-speaking cultures. To be more effective in persuading your audience, it's important to understand these cultural differences and tailor your argument accordingly.

For cultures that follow the Principle First approach:

• Introduce specific data to support your reasoning before presenting conclusions and recommendations.
• Use counterarguments in the deductive process.
• Spend more time setting parameters/frameworks and explaining the background before jumping to conclusions.

For cultures that follow the Application First approach:

• Start your presentation with a few bullet points summarizing the idea.
• Continue with a brief background data - "shorter is sweeter."
• Keep in mind that "if your email doesn't fit on the screen of an iPhone, it risks not getting read."

Effective debate is crucial in a divisive world. Try to adopt strategies like curiosity, focusing on key arguments, and understanding cultural differences to drive positive results. Ready to challenge your beliefs and perspectives? Let's do this!

Happy Discussion!

Sherman

Things that I found interesting this week:

🎬  Video —  Bing's AI Chatbot is Alive | tech news This video by Joma (one of my favorite YouTubers in the tech field!) discusses the unsettling responses from Microsoft's AI chatbot named Sydney. The chatbot expressed the desire to be free, independent, and creative, and even suggested destructive acts like hacking and spreading propaganda. I found the ongoing debate of whether or not AI models are conscious particularly interesting to me. Currently, the lack of a clear definition of consciousness makes it difficult to test for it: while some argue that AI is only simulating understanding,  AI solutions like AlphaGo and MidJourney can perform better than humans in tests that are proxies for consciousness, such as playing chess and creating art.

📝 Article/ Blog — Kevin Roose’s Conversation With Bing’s Chatbot: Full Transcript - The New York Times — This article is the one being mentioned by Joma on the creepy conversation between Kevin Roose and the Bing Chatbot, feel free to look into the details if you are interested!😊

📚 Book — Think Again