Why the majority is always wrong | Paul Rulkens | TEDxMaastricht
-
0:08 - 0:12In 1942, Albert Einstein
was teaching at Oxford University, -
0:13 - 0:16and one day, he just gave
an exam of physics -
0:16 - 0:18to his senior class of physics students.
-
0:18 - 0:21He was walking on the campus
with his assistant, -
0:21 - 0:24and all of a sudden, the assistant
looked at Albert Einstein and said, -
0:24 - 0:29"Dr. Einstein, this exam
which you just gave -
0:29 - 0:31to the senior class of physics students,
-
0:31 - 0:36isn't that exactly the same exam
you gave to exactly the same class -
0:36 - 0:37one year ago?"
-
0:39 - 0:42"Yeah, yeah," said Albert Einstein,
"it's exactly the same." -
0:43 - 0:46"But Dr. Einstein, how could you
possibly do that?", the assistant said. -
0:47 - 0:50"Well," said Einstein,
"the answers have changed." -
0:50 - 0:53(Laughter)
-
0:57 - 0:58The answers have changed.
-
0:58 - 1:02In other words, what is true for 1942
is even more true for today. -
1:02 - 1:05We live in a world where
the questions might be the same, -
1:05 - 1:07but the answers have changed.
-
1:07 - 1:11In other words, what has got you here,
will no longer get you there. -
1:11 - 1:14And if you want to have results
that you've never had before, -
1:14 - 1:17well, you need to start doing things
you've never done before. -
1:18 - 1:22The key question for today is of course:
Is there a method to the madness? -
1:23 - 1:28Is there a way that each of us
can do impossible things -
1:28 - 1:30to truly create dramatic results?
-
1:31 - 1:34The good news is that the answer
to that question is 'yes.' -
1:34 - 1:36Because what I'm going to explain today
-
1:36 - 1:41is when it comes to high performance,
why the majority is always wrong, -
1:42 - 1:44and how you can use that
-
1:44 - 1:47to get everything you can
out of everything you've got. -
1:49 - 1:52But let me first introduce you
to something interesting, -
1:53 - 1:54an interesting observation.
-
1:54 - 1:58When people, teams, and organizations,
whenever they hit a wall, -
1:58 - 2:00they tend to do one of two things:
-
2:00 - 2:05they either do more of the same things,
or they do less of the same things. -
2:06 - 2:08But what you very seldom see
-
2:08 - 2:11is that they start to do
different things instead. -
2:11 - 2:13It's interesting, if you look at the data,
-
2:13 - 2:18approximately three per cent of people
are inclined to even do different things. -
2:19 - 2:23The remaining 97%
continues to smash into the wall, -
2:23 - 2:26like some kind of crazy
energy bunny on steroids. -
2:28 - 2:30Why is that?
-
2:31 - 2:34To understand what's going on here,
we need to ask another question. -
2:34 - 2:38The question we need to ask ourselves is:
What is the purpose of thinking? -
2:38 - 2:40What is the purpose of thinking?
-
2:41 - 2:44If you ask that question
to a brain scientist, -
2:44 - 2:45the brain scientist will say,
-
2:45 - 2:48"Well, the purpose of thinking
is to stop thinking." -
2:50 - 2:52The purpose of thinking
is to stop thinking. -
2:52 - 2:53What does she mean by that?
-
2:53 - 2:54Here's the thing:
-
2:54 - 2:58Thinking is a high energy activity;
it takes a lot of energy to think. -
2:58 - 3:02So whenever we think,
we try to think as short as possible, -
3:02 - 3:05and then we return to automatic pilot.
-
3:07 - 3:11Over 95% of our life,
we run on automatic pilot. -
3:12 - 3:14For example, if you've ever driven a car,
-
3:14 - 3:17and then realize, whoa!
What did I do in the past half hour? -
3:17 - 3:19That's your brain on automatic pilot.
-
3:21 - 3:22Another example.
-
3:22 - 3:27Many of you right now
are listening to me on automatic pilot. -
3:29 - 3:31And I know who you are.
-
3:31 - 3:33(Laughter)
-
3:35 - 3:38Here's the thing, if your brain
is on automatic pilot, -
3:38 - 3:41this leads to what scientists
call mental myopia, -
3:41 - 3:43also known as tunnel vision.
-
3:45 - 3:48If you have tunnel vision,
that's a bit of a problem -
3:48 - 3:51because it confuses people
about their own performance. -
3:51 - 3:54This is the reason
that many people go through life -
3:54 - 3:57acting like a mediocre race car driver
-
3:57 - 4:00who sits in his car,
looks in his rear-view mirror, -
4:00 - 4:01sees his competition,
-
4:01 - 4:05and is so far behind
that they think they are first. -
4:05 - 4:08(Laughter)
-
4:11 - 4:14In other words, ladies and gentlemen,
we tend to think inside the box, -
4:14 - 4:17and the box is a very good metaphor, here.
-
4:17 - 4:19So let me draw a box.
-
4:21 - 4:23If you take a close look at the box,
-
4:23 - 4:26you see that the boundaries
of this box are very well defined. -
4:27 - 4:31We think inside defined boundaries.
I'll give an example. -
4:31 - 4:37One boundary is a legal boundary,
and we think within the legal framework. -
4:37 - 4:38I'll give you an example.
-
4:38 - 4:44Very few of you would think of stealing
the wallet of the person next to you -
4:44 - 4:47in order to fund your next cool startup.
-
4:50 - 4:51At least that's what I hope.
-
4:52 - 4:55We think in legal boundaries,
but there are other boundaries as well. -
4:55 - 4:58We think in technological boundaries,
in physical boundaries, -
4:58 - 5:01but we also think in moral boundaries.
-
5:01 - 5:04This is why we think inside the box.
-
5:04 - 5:07At least, that's what we think.
-
5:08 - 5:12Because the reality is that the box
in which we think looks more like this. -
5:18 - 5:20For those of you in the back
who cannot see it, -
5:20 - 5:22the reason is this is a very small box.
-
5:22 - 5:25(Laughter)
-
5:26 - 5:29Let me illustrate
how small this box can be. -
5:29 - 5:32For example, if I would say tonight,
"Let's have something to eat, -
5:32 - 5:35have dinner tonight,
what would be options to do that?" -
5:35 - 5:38Probably you come up with,
"Let's buy some pizza," -
5:38 - 5:42"Go to a restaurant," "Cook at home,"
all kinds of cool ideas. -
5:43 - 5:46But I believe that very few of you
would raise their hand and say, -
5:46 - 5:49"Hey let's go to the highway close by,
-
5:49 - 5:52see if we can pick up some dead animals
on the side of the road -
5:52 - 5:55and prepare ourselves a crispy dinner."
-
5:55 - 5:58(Laughter)
-
5:59 - 6:01That's a disturbing thought.
-
6:03 - 6:04But here's the funny thing,
-
6:04 - 6:07for many in the world
this would be a perfectly normal response, -
6:07 - 6:09nothing wrong with that.
-
6:09 - 6:11What it shows is
that the box in which we think -
6:11 - 6:13is actually very, very small.
-
6:14 - 6:19If you take a closer look
at your industry or professional field, -
6:19 - 6:22you also think inside a very small box.
-
6:23 - 6:27The boundaries of this box,
they are called industry standards, -
6:27 - 6:29or industry norms.
-
6:30 - 6:33For example, if you are
in the restaurant business, -
6:33 - 6:37then the industry standard is
that people come to your establishment, -
6:37 - 6:39they eat, and then they pay.
-
6:39 - 6:42That's the standard;
that's how everyone is doing it. -
6:42 - 6:45Another example, if you are
in the banking business, -
6:45 - 6:49this norm is that people give you money,
you say thank you very much, -
6:49 - 6:50and you give the money to someone else.
-
6:50 - 6:51(Laughter)
-
6:51 - 6:53I mean, that's banking!
-
6:55 - 6:59Those are standards, those are norms
in the industry or professional field. -
6:59 - 7:01But this is what you need to know:
-
7:01 - 7:04The word 'norm' is
an abbreviation for 'normal.' -
7:05 - 7:08In other words, if you do
what everyone else is doing, -
7:08 - 7:10you get results
that everyone else is getting, -
7:10 - 7:13and those are 'normal' results.
-
7:14 - 7:18And the thing is, what we are after today,
are extraordinary results. -
7:20 - 7:24So the key question is of course:
How can you kick yourself out of the box? -
7:24 - 7:27Out this very small box
of your industry and professional field, -
7:27 - 7:29and move to the happy place,
-
7:31 - 7:33where cool innovation happens.
-
7:33 - 7:34How can you do that?
-
7:35 - 7:36Let me introduce you
-
7:36 - 7:39to the curious case
of the London taxi drivers. -
7:40 - 7:43If you want to become
a taxi driver in London, -
7:43 - 7:47you need to know the entire city by heart,
and this is called 'the Knowledge.' -
7:47 - 7:50You can imagine it takes years
to get 'the Knowledge' in your head. -
7:51 - 7:55And that's a bit of a problem if you want
to rapidly expand your taxi business. -
7:56 - 7:58So they asked themselves a question:
-
7:58 - 8:00How can we rapidly
expand our taxi business, -
8:00 - 8:04while at the same time
employing taxi drivers -
8:04 - 8:07who do not know anything
about the city of London? -
8:08 - 8:11Then they came up
with a very ingenious solution. -
8:11 - 8:14They said, well actually,
then we make two kinds of taxis. -
8:14 - 8:18One is a normal taxi, and the other taxi
has a big sign on it which says, -
8:18 - 8:23"The driver of this vehicle
does not know anything... -
8:23 - 8:25(Laughter)
-
8:25 - 8:30about the city of London,
but loves to get directions from you." -
8:31 - 8:34That's a brilliant solution
because this attracted those people -
8:34 - 8:37who lived in London,
who knew the city very well, -
8:37 - 8:42and finally, finally, finally,
could play boss in a taxi. -
8:42 - 8:45(Laughter)
-
8:45 - 8:47Brilliant!
-
8:48 - 8:51Ladies and gentleman,
this sounds like a very cute story, -
8:51 - 8:53but there's much more than meets the eye.
-
8:53 - 8:55Because what we have found
-
8:55 - 8:59is that breakthrough innovation,
extraordinary results happen -
8:59 - 9:03when people decide to finally
break the standards or the norms -
9:03 - 9:06in their industry or professional field.
-
9:08 - 9:09You see this over and over again.
-
9:09 - 9:12For example, if you would have
a furniture business, -
9:12 - 9:14and one day you would decide
-
9:14 - 9:17to no longer assemble
furniture for your customers, -
9:18 - 9:22probably you would end up
with a company called IKEA. -
9:24 - 9:26Another example,
if you owned a computer business, -
9:26 - 9:29and one day you decide
to no longer sell your computer -
9:29 - 9:31using a physical store,
-
9:32 - 9:36probably you would end up
with a company called Dell computers. -
9:38 - 9:42Ladies and gentlemen, what it tells us,
there is a method to the madness. -
9:43 - 9:46And by understanding
that the majority is always wrong, -
9:46 - 9:48when it comes to high performance,
-
9:48 - 9:53finally you have the opportunity
to quit fixing things, -
9:53 - 9:57and move to massive innovation, instead.
-
9:59 - 10:01Ladies and gentlemen,
-
10:01 - 10:04the Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius
-
10:04 - 10:07once said that the object of life
-
10:07 - 10:09is not to side with the majority,
-
10:10 - 10:12but the object of life
-
10:12 - 10:16is to escape finding oneself
joining the ranks of clinically insane. -
10:19 - 10:21If you do what everyone else is doing,
-
10:21 - 10:25you're not distinguishing yourself,
and you're probably stuck. -
10:25 - 10:28This is why, when it comes
to high performance, -
10:28 - 10:30the majority is always wrong.
-
10:32 - 10:33This is what we know.
-
10:33 - 10:38We know that three per cent of people
are able to achieve extraordinary results. -
10:39 - 10:43Each of you can become part
of those three per cent -
10:43 - 10:45by deciding, as of today,
-
10:45 - 10:48to break your industry standards
and to break your industry norms. -
10:50 - 10:51The alternative of course,
-
10:51 - 10:54is that you become part of the 97%
-
10:54 - 10:58who, in the end,
works for those three per cent. -
10:58 - 11:00(Laughter)
-
11:00 - 11:04As of today, that choice
is completely yours. -
11:05 - 11:06Thank you very much.
-
11:06 - 11:09(Applause)
- Title:
- Why the majority is always wrong | Paul Rulkens | TEDxMaastricht
- Description:
-
This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at http://ted.com/tedx
Paul Rulkens is an expert in achieving big goals in the easiest, fastest and most elegant way possible. Originally trained as a chemical engineer, he has moved his focus to the fascinating field of high performance. His work is based on his knowledge and experience about the practical application of behavioral psychology, neuroscience and especially common sense. He currently works worldwide to make successful people, teams and organizations even more successful. He lives with his wife and two children in Maastricht.
- Video Language:
- English
- Team:
- closed TED
- Project:
- TEDxTalks
- Duration:
- 11:26
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English transcript edited 19/01/18
7:42 + 7:49 Knowledge capitalized as per https://tfl.gov.uk/info-for/taxis-and-private-hire/licensing/learn-the-knowledge-of-london