TED.com is one of my favorite sites that I frequent, so I decided to see what I could come up with towards answering my questions. In August 2012 a TED talk by Margaret Heffernan was published in which she tells a story about a great and unusual scientist from the 1960s by the name of Alice Stewart who sought out to discover why the world was seeing rising numbers in childhood cancer. During this talk she illustrates how most people instinctively avoid conflict. How many people surround themselves with people who she refers to as “echo chambers” or those who are simply reflections of your own being. Margaret stresses that the best partners, research teams, and relationships are not echo chambers but rather, encourage and allow each other to deeply disagree. This was the first evidence I had found that seemed to support this concept of healthy argumentation but I needed to explore further.

Later into my research, I came across Dr. Scott E. Page who has been a professor of Political Science, Complex Systems, and Economics at the University of Michigan since 2000. One of the topics that Dr. Page has researched extensively throughout his career is how people interpret and utilize the concept of diversity. Not diversity in it’s common form that we may think of when you hear the word, but the concept cognitive diversity and why thinking differently can be such a huge asset. He defines and goes into detail about group dynamics, group thinking, and group performance. All of which become increasingly more efficient in tackling complex problems when built from diverse individuals rather than homogeneous groups. After I finished watching this entire coursework, it was clear in my mind that there was significant supporting evidence for anyone in general but especially employees working within organizations to challenge status quo, for managers and leaders to create diverse work teams, and for individuals to say “no” when they believe there are alternatives.

In an attempt to help one of my employees get to the root of our customers issues, I had explained to him the concept of “The 5 Whys”. I had read about this concept some years back in a book about the Toyota Motor Corporation and their production system. A few days later, that employee shared with me a YouTube video with speaker Simon Sinek. The talk that Simon gives is so simple and yet so effective in communicating the importance of asking “why”. He provides many examples of how people or organizations have utilized this concept and achieved great results. He also shares his concept of the “Golden Circle” which codifies three distinct and interdependent elements (Why, How, What) that makes any person or organization function at its highest ability. I had always felt that there was a reason to say no and to challenge status quo, yet I was never quite sure what the alternative was. I believe after seeing this video (and reading Simon’s book) that I was better equipped to answer that question.

At this point, I knew it was okay to say No, but I still didn't know how to overcome my fears. In late 2012, I attended UCLA’s Technical Management Program which is where I first met Dr. Robert Maurer when he taught the class “Creating and Sustaining Excellence in the Workplace”. Dr. Maurer did his best to convince us that stress is not real, he showcased four skills for enhancing performance, and he showed us studies of primates and how they dealt with conflict within various situations. In the end, I found that Dr. Maurer research had led us to the to environments in which we live, work, and exists within. A supportive environment would lead to the sharing of ideas.