The other day I was reading a book and towards the end the author wrote: «what do you get when you give up the fish?»* The story behind the meaning of this sentence is long, and I will not get into it now, but the phrase was basically referring to what happens to the mind and the power of new discoveries when you give up a certainty or presumed obvious fact?
Thinking about it a bit later, I came to the conclusion that one of the sad evolutions of our society is the disgrace of doubt. More and more the business, political and societal environments embrace certainty and relinquish doubt.
People with doubt are often depicted as unsure of themselves, indecisive, or confused. It has also become unacceptable to say ‘I don’t know’ in many environments, business, politics to start out with. Even when people do talk about uncertainty and chaos, and refer to VUCA (Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity, Ambiguity) in leadership theories, we often see it followed by proposals to reduce uncertainty, or developing scenarios to have ‘sure’ answers to any outcome.
Yet, doubt is fundamental for human progress, be it individual, clan, society or humanity as a whole. If you don’t doubt yourself or your action, you will not question them, and thus never open the door to change and improvement. If you are certain about how something should be, you will not think that a better way would be available, feasible, or even needed.
I know there are many potential caveats in what I am saying: does it mean we have to question everything, and not retain any certainties? Or never make any decisions, always waiting for thing to fall in place? Or what about learning through making mistakes, which is a popular philosophy?
Of course not, we all have values (individual, family, and society endowed), and have convictions based on experiential learning. And most of our daily life can be carried out without doubting and questioning. I cannot help but to think of a Japanese proverb that says: «vision without action is a daydream, but action without vision is a nightmare.» And somewhere in the vision, we need to inject doubt and questioning, to ensure the nightmare does not come around.
* Lulu Miller, Why Fish Don't Exist, 2020
Paris, February 19, 2024
Zeejay