Genius of And Vs Tyranny of Or

“The genius of the AND vs. the tyranny of the OR”

This stuck with me the first time I heard it a class where we were discussing about Visionary Companies and I have repeated it often since then.

I realized when I looked back at many decisions minor or major that I made in life, one of the ways in which we hold our thoughts back from greater clarity in life is the “Enforced EITHER / OR” pattern.

This applies around the board from business to psychology to personal relationships to philosophy to science and all the way back again.

Of all the things we do to constrain ourselves within our own minds, I believe this is one of the greatest: We fail to embrace paradox, and by doing so, we miss out on some glorious insights and liberation of our minds. We force ourselves to think of “balance”, instead of yin and yang.

We think you have to be black (one extreme) or white (another extreme) or grey (a balance or compromise), but don’t understand that you could be both black AND white AND not grey all at once.

We align our model of reality along two dimensions, whereas reality could have more dimensions, less dimensions, or maybe dimensions don’t even make sense as a way to model all of reality!

We are wired to avoid internal inconsistency. It is literally a requirement for life that we think our internal model of reality is accurate and internally consistent; because survival requires decision making, and decision making requires a consistent model of reality.

The Tyranny of the OR is forcing yourself to believe that certain things cannot be simultaneously pursued. Forcing your model of a complex, beautiful and nuanced reality into two dimensional, diametric space.

Can you think of examples where you do this in your life? I certainly can, here are some examples right from the top of my head that I have thought in the past:

• Either I have time for myself, OR I have time with my family.
• Either I have time for recreation, OR I have time for self-development.
• Either I am sceptical, OR open-minded.

But many of these are unfair and inaccurate reflections on reality.

To repeat the earlier quote within the Jim Collins excerpt: “The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in the mind at the same time, and still retain the ability to function.” ~F. Scott Fitzgerald.

The solution to the “Tyranny of the OR” is the “Genius of the AND”, the ability to embrace things that are seemingly paradoxical. The ability to embrace both extremes. Here are those examples reversed:

I can find a way to…

• Have time for myself AND have time with my family
• Have time for recreation AND have time for self-development
• Be sceptical AND open-minded.