(Looking at the picture below)
What (the hell) is that fence doing here? It serves nothing. Let’s remove it.
That’s what many people agreed on without asking a straightforward question: Why is there a fence here in the first place? What’s the rationale behind putting a fence?
That fence is called Chesterton’s Fence. If you remove it, Chesterton will cry. Less jokingly, Chesterton (writer and philosopher who died in 1936) invites us to think about the rationale behind an earlier decision and take action only after we understand why there was a decision in the first place. It goes even beyond and encourages us to practice second-order thinking: thinking about the consequences of the consequences of our decisions. (it’s not a typo, yes, consequences of consequences of decisions).
Everyone can do the first-order thinking: if I do X, the result will be Y. Only a few considers the consequences of Y because that consideration often requires greater effort, and we don’t have time.
What can we do as leaders?
While making a decision that is not minor, we can stop momentarily and practice second-order (or even third-order) thinking. This strategy helps us to learn why a specific (and seemingly stupid) decision is made earlier, and then, only then, we can safely change it or conclude that they were wrong.
Want to learn more? Read this article or grab the book Great Mental Models Volume 1.
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