I liked the book Ikigai and recommended it too easily. Then I started digging. Here is what I found and what it means for teams that want both strong performance and genuine well-being.

Four Circles, No Research

The famous four circles were never tested with Japanese people. They do not come from research. In Japan, hardly anyone knew the diagram before it came back as a Western invention.

In 2011, the Spanish astrologer Andres Zuzunaga created a “Purpose” diagram. There was no reference to Japan. Three years later, the British blogger Marc Winn watched a TED talk about life expectancy in Okinawa. He liked the word “ikigai” and replaced purpose with ikigai on Zuzunaga’s graphic. That version went viral. A book author picked it up. Now much of the world assumes that this is what ikigai means.

Japanese speakers usually do not recognize the diagram. That is the problem. People go looking for happiness at the intersection of four circles, but those circles were never about meaning, purpose, or Japan in the first place.

Where Ikigai Really Comes From

The real story starts with the Japanese psychiatrist Mieko Kamiya. In the 1950s, she made seven visits to Nagashima Aiseien, Japan’s largest leprosarium. About 1,700 patients lived there in isolation.

Kamiya conducted psychiatric interviews and questionnaires. She wanted to understand one thing. Why did some patients with mild symptoms describe their lives as meaningless, while others with severe and disfiguring illness still felt their lives were deeply worth living?

That question became her life’s work. In 1966, she published Ikigai-ni-Tsuite (“On the Meaning of Life”).

Kamiya argued that the feeling of ikigai, which she called ikigai-kan, depends on a cluster of needs. Think of life affirmation, freedom, future orientation, and self-realization. Not everyone needs all of them. No single combination was universal. But several needs kept showing up, even in people living under severe constraints.

Notice what is missing: money, career, and what the world needs in any market sense. Very few leprosy patients had those things. Yet they still had ikigai in the original sense. That is also how I use the term in the rest of this article.

Nine Questions Instead of Four Circles

Kamiya’s clinical theory was later turned into something measurable: the Ikigai-9, a nine-item questionnaire developed and validated by Imai, Osada, and Nishimura in 2012. It was later tested in the UK, Germany, and France.

The Ikigai-9 measures roughly three dimensions:

• the feeling that life has meaning
• the feeling that you are needed
• the feeling that you can grow

Answers are scored on a scale from 9 to 45. Nothing like four circles.

One Simple Question About Longevity

The longevity studies did not even use all nine items. They asked one direct question about whether people felt a sense of meaning in their lives.

The Ohsaki Study (Sone et al., 2008) followed 43,391 Japanese adults for seven years. The question was simple: “Do you have ikigai in your life?” People who answered no had a 50% higher risk of dying during the study period. The increased risk was mainly linked to cardiovascular disease and external causes, not cancer.

The Japan Collaborative Cohort Study followed participants for more than ten years. People reporting ikigai had roughly 7 to 15 percent lower all-cause mortality. In men, the effect was especially visible in lower cardiovascular mortality.

These are large, well-designed cohort studies. They are not anecdotes from a productivity blog. They show that people with ikigai die less often. They do not prove that you can lower someone’s mortality risk by somehow “installing” ikigai. Almost all of this research comes from Japan, so we do not know how well it travels. Scientific honesty matters more here than a neat story.

Motivation and Well-Being Through Self-Determination

As a coach, I use a different framework: Self-Determination Theory (SDT) by Deci and Ryan. It rests on fifty years of cross-cultural research. That evidence base is much larger than anything behind the ikigai meme.

SDT proposes three universal psychological needs that drive real motivation and well-being:

Autonomy: your actions feel chosen rather than forced. That is not the same as being independent. You can freely choose to serve a team goal and still experience autonomy.

Competence: you feel effective and able to grow in meaningful work.

Relatedness: you feel connected to and supported by others.

Unlike the ikigai literature, SDT has been tested explicitly across cultures. Studies in Western Europe and East Asia, including Japan, Hong Kong, South Korea, and China, show that autonomy and relatedness matter in both. People in collectivist cultures also experience autonomy when they choose to act for the good of the group. The key is that the choice feels like theirs.

Where SDT is thinner than ikigai research is simple: it has not yet been tested against hard mortality data in the way the Ohsaki studies tested ikigai.

What This Means for Your Team

This is where it becomes practical. This is also where performance and well-being start to line up.

Autonomy means engineers making technical choices instead of just executing specs. It means marketers having real room to shape a campaign, not just waiting for approval on channel and copy. Autonomy-supportive environments create stronger motivation. That also holds under tight deadlines and high accountability. Boundaries do not undermine autonomy when people understand why those boundaries exist.

Competence means stretch with support. The work has to be hard enough to help people grow. It also needs fast, concrete feedback. That is how people improve. Teams that overprotect people, or throw them in at the deep end without feedback, fail to support the need for competence.

Relatedness means psychological safety and genuine collegial connection. Not forced fun. Not another team outing. Relatedness is the experience of being supported rather than merely sitting next to each other. The ikigai research puts strong emphasis on this dimension. That is a useful correction to Western coaching, which can lean too heavily on individual autonomy and invest too little in belonging.

Meaning and purpose mean a credible, felt answer to the question: “Why does my work matter?” Not a poster on the wall. Closer to Kamiya’s insight that meaning can survive even under hard conditions, as long as an important need is being met. In a team, that may be as simple as seeing the impact of the software they build or the campaign they run.

Some teams get these conditions right. Those teams experience more satisfaction at work, and they sustain stronger performance over time. Well-being and productivity go hand in hand.

If you would like to explore how needs and long-term motivation can drift apart, read balancing needs and shoulds.

Give Ikigai. Don’t Tick Four Boxes.

The four-circle diagram is a nice story with no scientific foundation. What the research actually supports is more specific and more testable: build environments with real autonomy, real growth paths for competence, and strong relatedness.

But the most essential insight is this: ikigai is not something you get by ticking four boxes. It is something you can give.

You can help people feel that they matter. You can help them feel needed and important to others. Who will you give ikigai to today?

Practice With Your Team

If you do not just want to read about this, but practice it with your team, the Agile Leadership Training helps you work on autonomy, competence, and relatedness in a concrete way, in your own situation.

If you want to find answers to your questions about purpose and motivation, take a look at Socratic Coaching.

The post The Ikigai Diagram Is a Meme. Purpose works differently. appeared first on Wendbaar Groeien.

Eliza Filby: Bringing Generations Together in the Age of AI

Eliza Filby took the stage with a clear message: ageism is the last acceptable prejudice. She walked us through the different generations—Boomers, Gen X, Millennials, and Gen Z—and showed how each carries its own history, strengths, and blind spots. From the Boomers, who hold massive wealth but are redefining retirement, to Gen X as the “last tech optimists,” to Millennials as the bridge generation between analog and digital, to Gen Z rewriting the rules of work, every group has a role.

What really struck me was her insistence that the future of work isn’t about dividing the generations but bringing them together. AI and hybrid work will shape our world, but the essence of thriving workplaces will remain deeply human. As she said, “It won’t serve us in our careers if we don’t return to what humans do best—listen, teach, and talk.”

Five Mind Grenades from Eliza Filby:

1. “Ageism is the last acceptable prejudice.”
   • This is something I often encounter when transforming teams into autonomous ones. Managers seem to have given up on the experienced lot and tell me not to bother. While I believe their experience is invaluable.
2. “Millennials are the translators and the bridges of the analog world and the digital world.”
   • I think we need more translators to collaborate and do great things.
3. “The passport was to millennials what the car was to baby boomers.”
   • I get that. But I’m Gen X. Neither is super important to me.
4. “It won’t serve us in our careers if we don’t return to what humans do best—listen, teach, and talk.”
   • Amen to that. Especially the teaching and listing could do with a boost.
5. “Let’s move away from multigenerational friction to harnessing the power of a multigenerational workforce.”
   • That’s what great agile teams are about: diversity and multiple perspectives.

Her talk left me thinking: what if the greatest opportunity of our time is not AI itself, but how we bring wisdom and innovation together across generations?

Neil Pasricha: Happiness First, Not Last

Neil Pasricha stepped on stage with his trademark humor and storytelling, but quickly went deep. He started with a question: if we live in the most abundant society in human history, why are we not happy? Anxiety, depression, loneliness, and suicide rates are all climbing. He argued that the problem lies in the model we’ve been taught all our lives: work hard, succeed, and then be happy. In reality, it’s the other way around.

His words were simple, but they hit home: “We need to train our brains to be happy first.” He showed that happy people aren’t just more joyful—they’re more productive, creative, and resilient. Happiness isn’t the reward at the end of success. It’s the fuel.

What made his talk unforgettable was the vulnerability with which he shared his story—divorce, the sudden loss of his best friend, and how he began blogging about “1000 Awesome Things” to find light in the dark. That project grew into bestsellers and a global movement, but at its heart it was always about choosing joy every single day.

Seven quotes that stayed with me from Neil Pasricha:

1. “We live in the most abundant society ever in human civilization. So then how come we’re not happy?”
   • It’s a question I’m often asking myself when people complain about the smallest things online and in the media. I’m clueless.
2. “Happy people are 50% more likely to get a promotion in the next 12 months.”
   • That’s right: happiness makes you likeable, and likeable people get promoted. The traditional logic is do great work > be successful > become happy. However, in reality, it is more like this: be happy > do great work > be successful.
3. “Happy people just live longer.”
   • Some people eat ‘healthy’ diets to live longer. But I can see their dinner doesn’t make them happy. Would they be shooting themselves in the foot?
4. “We’re three times more dangerous to ourselves than anybody else.”
   • That was when Neil was comparing suicide numbers to homicide numbers. I suppose they were US statistics.
5. “If you can just take 2 minutes to prime your brain for positivity, you change your whole day.”
   • I’m not sure whether it’s THAT easy, but I guess it helps.
6. “Sometimes in life, when everybody has an addiction, it looks like nobody has an addiction.”
   • Back when smoking was OK, nobody noticed. The same way nobody notices anymore that we’re on our phones all the time.
7. “Writing down gratitudes is a brain curl—you’re teaching your brain to look for the positive.”
   • Added to my list of daily workouts, after push-ups, stretching, and heart math. Pasricha’s challenge is practical: every morning, take two minutes to let go, write down something you’re grateful for, and focus your mind. That tiny ritual can rewire your day.
8. “You can’t think yourself into new action; you can only act yourself into new thinking.”
   • The fact that you need to do something, sample it, before you can start enjoying it, makes a lot of sense. I believe we are often too cognitive about new behavior. The logic can do > learn to > do is flawed. Doing comes before all.

Why this matters

Sitting there in Amsterdam, I realized these two talks are deeply connected. Eliza reminded me that the future of work must be human, and Neil reminded me that happiness is not a luxury but a foundation. Together, they made me believe that our challenge—whether in business or life—is to build environments where every generation can thrive, and where joy is cultivated, not postponed.

And that’s what I want to pass on to you. What if we measured success not just in profit, but in how much we help each other grow—and how happy we are while doing it?

Featured image credits: Matheus Bertelli

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The balance between work and life is crucial in maintaining team performance without succumbing to burnout. In this article on becoming a better team player, we dive into the delicate art of juggling professional demands and personal needs.

Long-term and Short-term Team Performance

Ever had the urge to binge-watch your favorite series? It’s an example of a short-term desire. While it offers immediate gratification, it can derail long-term goals. In team settings, this dichotomy plays out in balancing what we should do for the team versus what we need for ourselves. Striking this balance is key to preventing burnout teamwork and maintaining productivity.

Your gut is the canary in the coal mine

From birth, we are primarily driven by immediate needs – the “belly”. As we grow, we learn to plan and set long-term goals – the “head”. However, the belly never truly disappears; it serves as a reminder of our physical and emotional needs. In teams, when members ignore these needs, it leads to stress, dissatisfaction, and burnout. Successful teamwork requires acknowledging and balancing these aspects.

The Art of Balancing Head and Belly

Many view balance as boring. Yet in the context of burnout teamwork, it is a dynamic and essential skill. Consider extreme athletes: their prowess lies in maintaining an extreme dynamic balance. Similarly, effective teamwork involves creating space for personal needs amidst professional obligations. Mindfulness about one’s productivity and taking breaks when needed is crucial. It’s a mistake to think that pushing harder is the solution to decreased productivity. Instead, restful breaks often provide insights into underlying issues.

Taking True Breaks

Distinguishing between fake and true breaks is essential. Fake breaks involve activities that still engage the head, like checking emails or social media. True breaks, however, allow the mind to rest. Activities like taking a walk, enjoying a coffee chat, or mindfully drinking tea can rejuvenate the mind and are integral to managing burnout teamwork.

Maximizing Teamwork by Balancing Work-Life:

Balancing productivity and rest, individual needs, and team objectives, is a continuous process. This doesn’t imply working less or lowering ambitions. Instead, it’s about working smarter. To achieve significant goals, it’s vital to fine-tune the balance between our immediate needs (belly) and long-term objectives (head). You can simply start by taking true breaks. Then check your battery levels. Discuss with the team. They will gladly assist you in finding a better balance.

This piece draws insights from the book ‘Effect’, which offers lessons from a team of ice skating champions. Interested in enhancing your team’s performance while avoiding burnout? Contact Anton Vanhoucke for expert consulting in agile, scrum, innovation, and leadership coaching. Discover how to balance the demands of high-performance teamwork with personal well-being.

The post But…My team needs me! appeared first on Wendbaar Groeien.

Walker calls sleep the most potent medicine. It’s free too! Read on to find out how to get more out of your nightly hours.

Why is Sleep So Crucial for your performance?

Cognitive Functioning and Memory

• Sleep is essential for memory consolidation. During deep NREM sleep, our brain processes and transfers new memories into long-term storage.
• REM sleep fosters creativity, helping our brains connect unrelated ideas in novel ways.

Emotional Well-being and Mental Health

• Sleep regulates our emotions. Without adequate REM sleep, our amygdala — the brain’s emotional center — becomes hyperactive, leading to heightened emotional reactions.
• Chronic sleep deprivation is linked with anxiety, depression, and even suicidal tendencies.¹

Physical Health

• Sleep deprivation affects the heart, with studies showing an increased risk of cardiovascular diseases.
• Lack of sleep can cause weight gain, impacting hunger hormones like leptin and ghrelin².
• Sleeping less than 6-7 hours a night demolishes your immune system, doubling the risk of cancer³.

Safety

• Sleep deprivation impairs judgment. Fatigue-related accidents, both on roads and at workplaces, are often more disastrous than alcohol-related ones⁴.

Why Don’t We Sleep Enough?

Modern life is conspiring against sleep. Electronic screens emit blue light that hinders melatonin production, our natural sleep-promoting hormone. Caffeine and alcohol, though seemingly benign or even sleep-inducing, actually disrupt our sleep cycles.

How Can We Sleep Better?

1. Regularity: Stick to a schedule. I personally want to be in bed by 11 p.m. and I wake up without alarm at 06:30.
2. Environment: Ensure a dark, cool, gadget-free, and screen-free bedroom⁵. I charge my phone in the next room. It is close enough for my Bluetooth headphones, so I can listen to a book or podcast before sleeping.
3. Limit Caffeine and Alcohol: Especially in the evening⁶. I rarely drink alcohol anymore, and I don’t miss it a bit. I like the taste of coffee, so I drink one around 10 a.m. and then I stop.
4. Mind Your Diet: Avoid large meals before bedtime. Your body often confuses hunger with a lack of sleep. Sleep could be the better solution to cravings. I try to eat early, just after my workout. But my agenda doesn’t always allow it.
5. Morning Sunlight: Natural light helps regulate our internal clock. I try to eat my breakfast outside. And during wintertime, when the days are short, make a morning walk at work.

Conclusion: Sleep is the best investment in Performance

Dr. Matthew Walker’s “Why We Sleep” isn’t just a book; it’s a wake-up call (pun intended). The lack of sleep, once seen as a badge of honor, is now recognized as possibly the greatest public health challenge we face in the 21st century⁷. It might be an important cause of the obesity pandemic. I personally put sleep at the forefront of my priorities, for well-being, productivity, and overall quality of life. And it works.

Footnotes and references

1. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-023-37921-4 ↩︎
2. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18517032/ ↩︎
3. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/09/220921104752.htm ↩︎
4. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1739867/ ↩︎
5. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4734149/ ↩︎
6. https://www.sleepfoundation.org/nutrition/caffeine-and-sleep ↩︎
7. https://www.ted.com/talks/matt_walker_sleep_is_your_superpower ↩︎

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The basic idea is simple: having a growth mindset is believing you can improve at anything with effort. The opposite belief is the fixed mindset. It means you feel that talent is innate: it’s a trait that defines your status. These mindsets seem straightforward. Nigel Holmes’ diagram below explains it pretty well. You’ve probably seen it before.

In the bottom right corner, we see: “Higher levels of achievement and a greater sense of free will.” And all of that just by changing your mind. Sounds good, doesn’t it? If only it was as easy as this diagram.

Let’s go through the pitfalls of the Growth Mindset, starting with one of my weak points: blaming. I tend to blame myself mostly, and I thought it was ok with the Growth Mindset. I was owning my mistakes. Or was I?

A growth mindset means you blame nobody, not even yourself.

The legendary basketball coach John Wooden says you aren’t a failure until you start to blame. He means that you can learn from your mistakes until you deny them or until you pin them on others. Even the successful Jack Welch made multi-million dollar mistakes, admitted them, and owned the results. Instead of blaming, he apologized personally, fixed the problem immediately, and learned to prevent something similar from happening again.

You aren’t a failure until you start to blame.

John Wooden

Did Welch blame himself? In words, he did. But not in action. He cleaned up. There is a subtle difference between blaming oneself and owning your mistakes. Owning the mistake means you don’t fret, but you double down, improving the process and increasing the effort. If the milk spills, you don’t say: “I’m clumsy,” or: “I should have paid attention.” You say: “The milk spilled. Let’s clean it up. And let’s ensure it happens less.”

Owning your mistakes is a careful balance between humility and self-confidence. You have to be humble enough to admit problems and confident enough to clean up. But How humble should you be?

Humility will tell you to put in the extra effort, not to feel superior, and not to blame others. 

Too humble, and nobody sees you. Too humble, and your ambitions will shrink. Not humble enough, and you become arrogant, overbearing, and dismissive of mistakes.

In his autobiography, Jack Welch has an entire chapter titled ‘Too Full of Myself.’ He says there is only a razor’s edge between self-confidence and hubris. And true self-confidence is the courage to be open and to welcome change and new ideas regardless of their source. Genuine self-confidence is your readiness to grow.

From that mindset, Welch rewarded teamwork rather than individual genius: “Leaders were encouraged to share the credit for ideas with their teams rather than take full credit themselves. It made a huge difference in how we all related to one another.”

Internal relations are more valuable than you’d think. It’s not only nice. Science proves that inclusion and diversity are great drivers for team performance. Why? When you solve complex problems, having more perspectives leads to better solutions. The problem is people do not always feel confident enough to voice their perspectives. Stereotyping could be in the way.

Stereotypes stifle the growth mindset.

Stereotyping can be subtle and insidious. Experiments show that when women do work that is not traditionally associated with their gender, their growth mindset is very fragile. A careless remark, reminding them of their gender, just before a task can fill women with self-doubt and put them in a fixed mindset. 

I haven’t read experiments with other stereotypes or ethnicities, but I suppose the same thing will happen, maybe even worse. So you’d better avoid stereotypes if you want your team to learn and achieve great things. 

Avoiding stereotypes helps performance as well as diversity in thinking and perspectives. This diversity prevents groupthink and signals issues early. It helps you work smarter.

Working smarter is part of the growth mindset too. It is not only about putting in the effort. That brings us to another growth mindset myth.

Myth: with enough hard work, you can achieve anything

Hard-work-only is a brute-force approach. Some people think that if brute force doesn’t work, you’re just not using enough. Dweck – and I – disagree. A growth mindset is also about analyzing mistakes and improving the process. Say you have dyslexia. Working harder at reading texts is probably not the best solution for you. Improving the process means experimenting with different fonts or with audio material. 

You hear people say: “I foster a Growth Mindset. I tell my kids they can achieve anything.” It sounds growth-minded, but you could be misleading your kid.

It is more growth-minded and realistic to say. “You can improve at anything if you put in the work and develop the process. Want to be an astronaut? Great! Let’s find out what it takes and have fun trying to become one. Maybe it works out.”

Moonshots are great. They drive curiosity and ambition. But you also need to enjoy the journey for two reasons: not reaching the goal is less of a disappointment, and enjoyable journeys are easier to maintain.

Look for joy in the process.

When my kids pick up a hobby, I put serious effort into selecting a teacher. I need a teacher who masters the process and can transmit the joy of playing on every level—otherwise, these hobbies never last.

For myself, I often make the mistake of giving internal feedback all the time. It may seem like a growth mindset, but it takes away my enjoyment. More and more, I try to also simply enjoy my abilities. Enjoying the moment is especially important when I perform, like in a tennis match or a presentation. The constant internal feedback is detracting.

When I practice tennis or my kids practice music, we do it for the joy of playing. The joy ensures we keep putting in the effort. And we keep things interesting by having a plan. If all the playing goes nowhere, we are sure to lose interest and joy.

So joy helps us to put in the effort. However, some people are so fixed that they fear making an effort will prove they are not exceptional. Why can success be such a blocker for the growth mindset? Let’s find out.

Myth: if you need effort, you don’t have talent.

We grow up with more fixed mindset stories than you’d think. Take, for instance, the hare and the tortoise. The tortoise wins the race through sheer focus and effort. But honestly? I want to be the hare, winning anyway, with a little effort. 

There is a stubborn myth that effort is for those who don’t have the ability. The myth is fueled by many YouTube videos where people do extraordinary things as if it’s easy for them. You never see videos about how long they practiced.

The movie Amadeus portrays Mozart as a born genius, thwarted by the jealous Antonio Salieri. Historians will tell you that this is utter nonsense. Mozart worked hard from an early age, supported by Salieri, to develop his talent. He wrote mediocre music too. But again, that is a less sensational story.

When you think of it, that makes sense. The problem is you don’t often think of it. You have emotions before you think. Your rational brain knows geniuses must have practiced, but your emotional brain remembers amazing YouTube videos or the Amadeus movie. The feeling you get is: I have no talent. Why bother?

Myth: lowering standards boosts self-esteem.

We’re having a self-esteem pandemic with YouTube, TikTok, ADHD, ADD, Dyslexia, and challenging economic times. Self-esteem and self-confidence are essential for success. But science shows that lowering the bar does not work. It’s insincere and smothers ambition. 

The self-confidence we need is not about meeting expectations, even lower ones. We need the confidence that we can improve with process and application. It’s the confidence that you can make mistakes and progress. It’s not about what you are. Clinging to what you are fosters the fixed mindset.

Even when things go well, low standards can halt the learning process. If someone picks up something quickly and flawlessly, praise is risky. A better reaction is: “Whoops, I guess that was too easy. Sorry for wasting your time. Let’s do something you can learn from.”

The magic word for self-confidence is: ‘yet.’ Instead of saying: “I’m not a level 5 tennis player,” you say: “I’m no level 5 tennis player yet.” I have another blog post with tips to make people feel confident through psychological safety.

Let’s finish this paragraph with John Wooden: “Did I win? Did I lose? Those are the wrong questions. The right question is: Did I make my best effort? If so, you may be outscored but never lose.” 

Praise the process by tieing it to the outcome.

Ok, science tells us setting high standards and praising the process fosters learning. But we still have a pitfall to avoid: praising the effort when it’s not there. Praise is not a consolation when people are not learning. People could be making no effort or the wrong effort.

If working harder doesn’t solve it, you need different strategies. You need to tie the process to the outcome when you praise the process. Set high standards and make sure people reach them.

Everyone has both mindsets, fixed and growth.

I firmly believed I had a 100% growth mindset. After reading ‘Mindset,’ I understand everyone has both mindsets. It’s not either-or. You can cultivate the growth mindset and ensure it takes the wheel more often. Your fixed mindset is there for good reasons: it wants to protect you from failure and ridicule. I called my fixed mindset Mr. I-knew-it. In Flemish, that’s Mr. Kwistet. 

Accepting both mindsets made it easier for me to prefer the growth mindset. It also showed me my Mr. I-knew-it triggers. 

Whenever I see people make impressive moves on YouTube, Mr. I-knew-it quietly tells me I don’t have talent. He knew it! The video is proof. So why bother practicing? Much better to go on doomscrolling.

Now that I’m conscious of Mr. I-knew-it, I can laugh at his suggestion and start practicing anyway. I also know this:

Just because some people can do something with little or no training doesn’t mean that others can’t do it.

When I was 16, my girlfriend had just started playing flute and was struggling. I asked if I could try. Surprisingly, I could play 4-5 songs from her book immediately. She broke up with me and never played flute again.

What happened? I had reasonable Saxophone playing skills at the time, having practiced for four years. The fingering and lip tension is very similar for the flute and saxophone. 

Was I talented? Not at all. I was applying something I learned in a different context. That, and my ex-girlfriend had a rather loud fixed mindset. I apologized for this embarrassment much later, and she said it still hurt. Luckily, she also never praised my talent. 

Never ever praise people’s talent (unless you want them to fail).

People say that praise fuels learning and development. And you’d think that criticism hurts self-confidence. But the truth is not that simple. Dweck experimented with praise and came to some stunning conclusions. She gave the same assignment to two groups of students. One group was praised for the process and effort. The other for their talent. What happened? The students who were praised for their talent:

• Preferred easier follow-up challenges over harder ones. They risked losing their ‘talented’ status.
• The students lost interest sooner because they felt like they had reached success.
• The students Lied about their test results to other students for fear of being unmasked as not talented!

Just praising kids for their talent turned them into liars! Praising intelligence and talent makes their confidence and motivation more fragile. I’m pretty sure this also happens with the grown-up kids at work. 

Praising talent may make people feel like they made it. But there is no such thing as having made it. Here’s why.

When you achieve success, there is no happy ever after

Through fairy tales and cowboy stories, we have come to believe that all is well that ends well. In reality, that doesn’t happen. Wouldn’t that be utterly boring?

If you reach the top, you must keep working and training to stay there. Here’s where the fixed mindset fails spectacularly. You cannot win a sports competition and expect to keep winning without training just as hard. You cannot launch a successful product and expect to keep market share without developing it further. It goes for marriages too. You work hard to find a partner, and it’s an illusion that you can stop when the relationship is on.

Change is not automatically maintained when people change their mindset to further their careers, heal from a loss, help their children thrive, lose weight, or control their anger. It’s astounding – once a problem improves, people stop doing what caused it to improve. Once you feel better, you stop taking your medicine. But change doesn’t work that way.

You can help others maintain change with the right kind of praise. We have seen the wrong kind, but what is the right kind?

Reacting to success and failure with the right kind of praise

Ok, praise and feedback are a minefield. We discussed all the wrong things to say. What about the right kind of feedback? When things go well, show interest and admiration for the process:

• “That drawing has so many beautiful colors. Tell me about them.”
• “That homework was long and involved. I admire the way you concentrated and finished it. How did you stick to it?”
• “When you play that song, it gives me a real feeling of joy. How do you feel when you play it?”

When things don’t go as expected, try to work from the partial successes and develop experiments to improve:

• “Everyone learns differently. Let’s keep trying to find the way that works for you.”
• “You didn’t win because the others practiced more. They’ve been at it longer. You’ve come a long way, and if you want, you could train more and stand another chance.”
• “Son, this looks like a boring assignment. You have my sympathy. Can you think of a way to make it more interesting?”
• “Son, I feel sad seeing you missing a chance to learn. Can you think of a way to do this that would help you learn more?”

In summary: I’ve learned much about what the growth mindset is not.

1. A growth mindset is not only about being open-minded and flexible. You can be ‘open-minded’ about ‘losers,’ but you would be blaming and judging. The growth mindset means you cultivate talent. Cultivating talent means no blame. 
2. A growth mindset is not only about effort. No, it is also about continuous improvement and the smarts. It’s the process: Wax-on, wax-off.
3. A growth mindset is not about building false self-confidence by lowering standards. You risk praising the effort when it’s not there. The growth mindset is about high standards and having fun trying to get there. The magic word for self-confidence is: ‘yet.’ Instead of saying: “I’m not a level 5 tennis player,” you say: “I’m no level 5 tennis player yet.”
4. A growth mindset is not believing you can do anything. While setting goals is an integral part of the growth mindset, you can’t have these goals without resources and strategies to achieve them. Also, be careful with the goals. Having a talent is not a goal. Winning is not a goal. It’s about finding success in learning. I will read more biographies of my heroes and get inspiration from their goals and efforts.
5. A growth mindset is not blaming others for having a fixed mindset. “I can’t teach this person. He has a fixed mindset.” Who’s blaming who? Try to figure out what learning strategies these people are missing.
6. You don’t need a pure Growth Mindset. I will embrace my fixed mindset for what it is and ensure it doesn’t take the wheel at inconvenient times. I’ve named him. What’s the name of your fixed mindset?
7. A Growth Mindset is not automatically contagious. Even with a growth mindset, you can react to the setbacks of others with anxiety. Or you could inadvertently praise talent or ability. To truly build the growth mindset of those around you, you must embrace setbacks as learning opportunities. Be interested in the process and the effort. I’ll start by keeping a log of the constructive criticism and process praise I’ve given to others. It probably won’t be much in the beginning.

I hope you enjoyed this article. Consider following this blog or following me on LinkedIn. In my next article, I will write about the Growth Mindset in a Business context.

I’m looking forward to hearing your thoughts on this subject. 

The post I gravely misunderstood the Growth Mindset. Here’s what I learned. appeared first on Wendbaar Groeien.

My long-time sugar roller-coaster

I remember being on a coffee-and-candy-bar roller coaster in my early career. To focus, I drank a cappuccino or hot chocolate every hour and ate about two candy bars daily. Lots of cookies, too. I cycled for 60 minutes daily, so I didn’t care about the calories.

But my brain got foggy, I was quickly irritated, and the sugar felt like a craving: out of control. One day, I got so frustrated with this sugar addiction that I abolished all sugar and milk. I switched to fruits and oat milk. The cravings lessened but didn’t go away. 

Recently, after reading The Glucose Revolution, I understood the problem is glucose spikes. I also learned that the cause of these glucose spikes is more than just sugar ingestion. A stressful meeting can cause your body to inject glucose from storage. And the quick breaking down of simple starch (hydrolysis) from salty crisps can also cause spikes. 

A growing body of research suggests tricks to flatten your blood glucose curve. Read on for the specifics and the habits that worked for me.

Sugar and the brain

The brain is 2% of your body weight but consumes about 20% of your blood glucose. It is one power-hungry processor. Still, evolution made it way more efficient than any silicon-based processor in your laptop or phone. Your central nervous system and hypothalamus ensure the brain has the right amount of glucose. When the glucose level is low, the central nervous system makes you crave food or starts glucose release from fat storage. When glucose is high, it triggers insulin hormone release to capture excess glucose and store it. Millions of years of mammalian evolution have fine-tuned this system.

This careful balancing act is easily disturbed, however, when too much glucose enters the bloodstream at once. It starts oscillating. Sugary foods are one of the main reasons for glucose spikes. Too much glucose is like cycling downhill in the Alps. It’s a rush at first until you need to hit the brakes. In your body, the glucose brake is insulin. When you come to a standstill in the valley, you’re cold and tired, and your brakes are sticky through overheating.

Your brain longs for the top and wants to take the cable car: another candy bar. In the long term, this destroys your cycling muscles and your brakes. Scientifically: The data suggests that oscillating glucose can have more deleterious effects than constant high glucose on endothelial function and oxidative stress, two key players in favoring cardiovascular complications in diabetes.

It’s about more than sugar.

Eating healthy is about more than sugar, but sugar has a very immediate effect on brain performance. That’s why I focus this article mostly on sugar. In the long term, there are indications that too much salt stresses the kidneys, that hormones from cheap meat mess with your regular hormones, and that pollutants from pesticides and heavy metals stack up in the brain and cause degeneration. I still have to do more research on this and write another article. But first, on to the myths that are busted by science!

Myth: Fruits are healthy

Yes, fruits contain vitamins. But they also contain an awful lot of sugar. Half a bell pepper contains more vitamins than a whole orange! And many fruits, like apples, contain a lot of the worst type of sugar: fructose. Fructose is an unusable sugar, and your liver will work overtime to turn it into fat.

Eating fruits isn’t exactly unhealthy. If you enjoy fruit, why not? Enjoy the taste, but eat them whole. Juicing fruits will increase your total sugar intake. You can drink three oranges juiced, but you’ll be stuffed if you eat them whole. Furthermore, the sugars hit harder if you remove the natural fibers. 

Myth: Agave/honey/rice syrup/cane sugar is a healthy sugar

All refined sugars are more or less equal. They have the same harmful effect as juiced fruit: sugar enters the blood too fast, and your body stresses out to handle the spike. I avoid every kind of sugar as much as possible. And when I eat sugar, I make it a special joyful moment.

Sugars have different glycemic indices (GI). GI measures how fast your blood sugars rise if you consume that particular type of sugar. A low GI is not always healthier, however. Fructose could be hiding inside. It is a kind of sugar that does not raise your blood sugar – it lowers the GI – but your liver turns it into fat. Fructose tastes sweeter, though, so you may also use less. 

Myth: Counting calories is important

Did you know the calorie content of food is measured by actually burning the food and measuring the produced heat? That is not how your body cells get energy. Your cells need specific molecules at specific times in specific places. There is no relation between calorie content and the health of food. 

Also, remember fructose is a carbohydrate similar to glucose, yet your body can’t use it immediately. If you burn glucose and fructose, however, the result is very similar.

Furthermore, fibers show up as calories, but your body can’t digest them. A firewood log has many calories, but eating it won’t make you fat. The toxins in the wood will probably kill you instead.

Myth: Vegan/keto/paleo/low carb is the perfect diet

Within all diets, you can make very unhealthy choices. I eat mostly vegan, for instance. I would be strictly vegan if I only ate white sugar, white flour, and breakfast cereals with oat milk. But this type of vegan diet is also quite unhealthy because it contains so much sugar. Conclusion: I don’t eat vegan for my health, but for environmental & animal welfare reasons.

Myth: Oat milk is healthy

When I went vegan, I first switched to soy and later to oat milk for cappuccino and breakfast. I switched to oat because I didn’t like the taste of soy milk, and I’m a bit wary of soy in large quantities. Many people develop an intolerance. Soy seems to mess with your hormone levels too.

However, oat milk turned out to be not much better than soy. Because your saliva converts the oat starch to sugar quickly, you still get that sugar rush. I reverted to unsweetened almond milk and mostly just water.

Good idea: Eat fibers to slow sugar uptake

Much evidence points toward eating fiber as the best way to reduce glucose spikes. A bed of veggies is a great landing area for oils, sugar, and starch. The vegetable fibers fill the stomach nicely, and they scrub the intestines. I changed my breakfast to a hearty one. While preparing some eggs, I chew on some carrots or lettuce leaves. After the eggs, I eat some thick rolled oats. I can easily make it until lunch, even with a moderately active morning. 

Good idea: Use vinegar to slow sugar uptake

Apparently, dissolving a tablespoon of vinegar in a glass of water and drinking that before eating sugar or starch, also reduces glucose spikes. I’m not so sure it reduces my spikes and cravings, though. For me, vegetables work much better. 

If you are sensitive to Gastroesophageal reflux (GER) – also known as acid reflux – the tablespoon of vinegar is a risky method. Vegetables, on the other hand, are non-acidic, full of vitamins, and safe to consume even in larger quantities.

Good idea: Fasting improves metabolic flexibility

The body can inject glucose into the bloodstream from storage. Different biological mechanisms do this. Fasting triggers these mechanisms, and your body practices not instantly needing food. It’s a bit like spring cleaning too. Think of it as training to cycle uphill in the Alps and avoiding the cable cars.

Good idea: Limit processed food, gluten, and meat

Processed foods contain additives, preservatives, salt, and sugars. They also usually have fewer and shorter fibers. Processed foods, gluten, and meat have been linked to increased inflammation: your immune system works overtime when this kind of food passes through your stomach and gut. Inconsistent stool, buttons, rashes, stomach aches, and bubbling guts are all signs of inflammation. More energy for your immune system means less energy for the brain.

Good idea: Avoid alcohol, especially beer

My body reacts significantly to beer: I fall asleep after a few glasses. The sugar spike may be less for you than for me, but it still is a bad roller coaster. The sugar and starch in beer make you want to eat crisps, fries, and pizza. It compounds the excess glucose in your blood even more. Your insulin production reaches record levels, storing all excess glucose as fat.

Wine, especially red or dry white, does not create a similar spike. It is safer to drink, but excess use can still cause inflammation because alcohol is an irritant. Also, alcohol is known to kill brain cells. The liver filters alcohol out of the bloodstream by converting it into fat and some toxic byproducts.

I lose my ability to focus when I drink. After some alcohol at dinner, I can only watch TV or chat. That’s not the most invigorating brain activity, is it?

Good idea: Craving? Try water, brushing your teeth, or eating hearty first.

Despite my improved eating habits, I still get cravings occasionally. I might be tired, stressed, or smelling some delicious food. It helps me to drink a glass of water first. Brushing my teeth or eating peppermint can help too. A 10-minute walk outside also helps. If everything fails, I keep a bag of unsalted nuts around.

Conclusion: there are plenty of choices to enjoy

If you choose wisely and respect the correct order, you can enjoy many foods and drinks without negative consequences. You can easily steer clear of mountains and cable cars. Your body knows when it has had enough, but some food combinations block that signal. I’m careful with foods that have ingredients with difficult names because they hammer your immune system and cause inflammation. If you want to know more, you’ll probably enjoy the book Glucose Revolution. It’s well-written and reasonably researched. You can also watch Jody’s Stanislaws warning against overly consuming sugar.

Good luck with your fueling habits. Share this article if you learned something!

The post My preferred food for thought and brain function appeared first on Wendbaar Groeien.

Applying the culture map in a team context

Most mixed teams can work if you’re explicit about team culture. You can decide within the team how tightly you want to schedule meetings or how directive you want leadership to be. Just don’t leave it to the assumptions everyone brings from their cultural background.

However, building mono-cultural teams for speed in a less complex context can make sense. The team will lose less energy in inevitable cultural friction.

Another exception is when you’re leading a team with a different culture than yours. Some cultural flexibility from your side goes a long way when building a connection with your team.

High context – low context

High-context communication and low-context communication refer to two different communication styles. The main differences between these two communication styles are:

1. Context: In high-context communication, much of the meaning is conveyed through the context, such as the physical setting, the relationship between the communicators, and the nonverbal cues used. In contrast, low-context communication relies more heavily on explicit verbal messages to convey meaning and less on context.
2. Directness: High-context communication tends to be more indirect, with the speaker using hints, suggestions, and nonverbal cues to convey their message. In contrast, low-context communication tends to be more direct, with the speaker using clear, explicit language to convey their message.
3. Relationship: High-context communication is often used in cultures where relationships are valued highly. The focus is on maintaining harmony and preserving relationships, even sacrificing individual needs. In contrast, low-context communication is often used in cultures where individualism is valued more than relationships. The focus is on efficiency and getting the job done, even if it means being more direct or confrontational.
4. Cultural differences: High-context communication is more common in collectivistic cultures, such as Asia and the Middle East. Low-context communication is more common in individualistic cultures, such as the United States and Western Europe.

The differences between high-context and low-context communication are rooted in cultural values. They can significantly impact how people communicate and interact.

Before you think: “We’re working Agile, low-context is just best! Transparency rules!” Hold your horses. Even in Agile teams, people have sensitivities when it comes to feedback. So it might pay to be a little more circumvent. Furthermore, high-context cultures find it rude if you spell everything out to them explicitly multiple times. They take pride in reading subtexts and picking up subtle cues.

Negative feedback: direct or indirect?

In some cultures, such as Nordic cultures, direct negative feedback is more common. In these cultures, people value honesty and directness and may feel that indirect feedback is dishonest or insincere. Direct negative feedback tends to be more straightforward and to the point. The speaker uses clear and explicit language to convey their criticism. They might even use upgraders – such as “very” or “extremely” – to stress their point.

In contrast, indirect negative feedback is more common in cultures like the UK and Japan. In these cultures, people value saving face and maintaining harmony in relationships. Direct criticism can be seen as confrontational and disrespectful, so indirect negative feedback tends to be more subtle and less explicit. The speaker may use downgraders – such as “maybe” or “a little bit” – but still be adamant about their feedback. You’d better not mistake it for a suggestion.

Not that this is a different dimension than low and high context. Some cultures, like France and Russia, might be high-context but value directness regarding negative feedback. While the UK and, to some extent, the US value explicitness in regular messages, but can be very indirect with negative feedback.

An often-heard feedback principle is a 3:1 ratio between positive and negative feedback. With the cultural differences in mind, you will notice that this is a principle from US business literature. Dutch people might find this circumvent and prefer you come to the point so they can start fixing the problem.

Principles-first or applications-first

In applications-first cultures, people begin persuading with facts, statements, or conclusions and later add concepts to explain. The preference is, to begin with an executive summary. Discussions are practical and concrete instead of theoretical or philosophical.

In principles-first cultures, this is the other way around. People begin with general theories and principles to find common ground. They carefully build up to their conclusion with supporting facts, disagreeing facts, and a final balance. A careful and crisp thinking process is very persuasive in this environment.

Italy and France are on the principles-first side. The US, Canada, and Australia are on the down-to-earth applications-first side.

Egalitarian or hierarchical: power distance

The distance between boss and subordinate – the power distance – is the measure of this cultural dimension.

In egalitarian cultures, the distance between a boss and a subordinate is low. The best boss is a facilitator among equals. Organizational structures are flat, and skipping hierarchical lines is acceptable.

On the other hand, hierarchical cultures favor strong bosses who lead from the front. Status is essential, and communication follows the organizational lines. You do not question the order before executing it.

Consensual or quick decision-making

Power distance is different from the decision-making flow. Some very hierarchical cultures, like Japan, have a very consensual decision-making preference. Decision-making is careful and slow and preserves harmony. Once the decision is made, execution is swift because everyone is on board. You can be sure people stick to their decision.

Hierarchical decision-making cultures make quick decisions and fix the mess later. They might change the decision later or start convincing people after the boss makes the decision.

Trusting: task-based or relationship-based

Task-based trusting means building practical business agreements and coding that into a contract, written or verbal. A dependable legal system ensures that contracts are fulfilled. Past achievements mean a lot for building trust.

Relationship-based cultures put more emphasis on personal connection. Social interaction comes before business discussions. Lengthy lunches or parties make perfect sense because they are a great way of establishing mutual understanding.  

Disagreeing: confrontational or harmonious

Disagreeing is not negative feedback. It just means you have a different opinion on the way forward. Some cultures find the clash of perspectives positive and enriching. The Dutch say: without rubbing, it won’t shine. Other cultures take no risks with group harmony and relationships. They avoid confrontation as much as possible. Confrontation is dangerous as people tend to identify with their values and opinions. These cultures have subtle ways of sharing different viewpoints.

This cultural dimension is tricky because not all cultures are equally emotionally expressive. Danish, Dutch, and Germans avoid emotions in their confrontations and focus on the facts. They find emotions are in the way of a rational impersonal discussion. Showing anger in a disagreement is a sign of poor self-control.

On the other hand, Greek and French are very expressive in their disagreement. They might gesticulate, show anger, or show frustration. It is a sign of passion and caring. After a heated discussion, they can reconcile and respect the differences. 

Tread lightly in unexpressive, unconfrontational cultures like Korea. You might hurt feelings and miss subtle cues. Hurt feelings are not quickly forgiven or forgotten, potentially ruining relationships. 

Finally, don’t mistake emotional expressiveness in Saudi Arabia or Mexico for permission to confront. You will suffer from their expressiveness for a long time if you do. 

Scheduling: linear-time or flexible-time

The final cultural dimension is about the experience of time. Highly industrialized, highly predictable cultures value predictability to the minute. You’d better be on time or even early. 

Cultures with a more turbulent recent history go with the flow and value the moment more. Time is flexible, and the activity’s length depends on the moment’s flow. If things are interesting, there’s no point in stopping on time because the next event might be late or not even happening.

Cultural relativity

Germans might find the French awfully high-context. But the Chinese might find the French shockingly explicit and low-context. It’s all relative to your point of view. Keep that in mind when dealing with different cultures. 

It’s even relative between company cultures in the same country or between family members in the same family. It’s all a matter of preference, and most systems work fine internally.

So what is the ideal culture?

I’m not sure the ideal is the middle of each scale. I like the diversity. The cultural dimensions help me practice cultural flexibility. I’m more aware that not everyone shares my preferences. That awareness helps me build more and better relationships.

The post The Culture Map – cultural dimensions for teamwork appeared first on Wendbaar Groeien.

I once worked in a team where one of the team members would regularly skip team meetings. And if she attended, she’d only be there for half the time. It felt like she was unmotivated to contribute. At times it even felt like sabotage. The strange thing was that I knew that person as a hard-working and honest. So I decided to investigate and have a chat. It turned out her honest intention was to save the company money by focussing on work she felt was more valuable. Her actions seemed like sabotage on the surface but her intention was to be more productive.

Investigating the intent

What helped in this situation is carefully making the distinction between actions and intentions. Aligning your actions with the things you want to achieve is hard. And it gets worse: misreading other people’s intentions might upset you and lead to conflict.

For instance, imagine someone makes a sneer at you. You can let it hurt you. And then you can hit back with something even nastier. You could also investigate the intent. Try to investigate it calmly. Usually there’s an unmet need behind a sneer. The sneering person has probably failed to ask nicely. Try asking ‘What is it you need?’ or ‘What did you want to tell with that remark?’ Pro tip: avoid asking ‘Why?’ — this can be perceived as judging and escalate a conflict.

In the book ‘Effect’, the authors call this the law of heterogeneous substances. Action and intention seems one and the same – in other words: homogenous – but really aren’t. Upon closer investigation however, they are heterogenous. They are made up of different things.

Escaping the road to hell

The road to hell is paved with good intentions. I once – naively – believed that if only I was honest and intended well, people would appreciate everything I did. I learned through frustration, conflict and disappointment that this was not the case.

Three strategies will help you get off that road to hell.

1. Empathize: before you act, try to imagine what impact your action will have on the other.
2. Communicate: Explain why you are doing things while you are doing them.
3. Be patient: You can generally assume other people will make no distinction between your actions and intentions. They could react in unexpected ways.

Reputation en relationship

When other people guess at the intentions behind your actions, your reputation is a big factor. And your actions and words make up your reputation. Seeing intent and communicating your intent will improve your reputation. This will in turn ensure that people guess wrong less often.

The same goes more or less for relationships: great relationships are built on shared values and intentions. Building solid relationships will give you the benefit of the doubt when people guess at your intentions.

Conclusion: great teamwork does not come from good intentions alone

You will be a better team player if you see the distinction between actions and intentions. This goes both for your actions and the actions of others. And there’s more good news: great relationships and a good reputation will cut you some slack. Now go be a nice team player and share this article!

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Their book was originally intended as a sports coaching manual. The ideas in the book however, are relevant for any team. Here’s the first part of my book summary. I summarized the book in eight insights for effective teamwork.

Insight 1: our actions don’t always get us the effect we want

Let’s start with a story to illustrate the basic idea. It’s a fictional story, yet it’s true to life. It’s the story of John. John works as a researcher in an R&D team. John is participating in a team building training. At some point during the training, the trainers ask the participants a very personal question. How much do they like working in their current team? John readily admits he doesn’t like his job, nor his team. He complains that his achievements always go unnoticed. There’s usually no one to help when he’s in trouble. And, most of all, he wishes for more support and recognition from his teammates.

His case is thoroughly investigated during the course. The trainers keep asking him questions about the case. John is visibly exhausted and becomes a little annoyed by all the attention. Then, at some point, another student interjects: “Well, John, the trainers are giving you a hard time. Why don’t we take a break?” John stays tough and replies: “Nah. People who come to a training like this should be able to handle this.”

It’s hard to do teamwork with a team of Johns

Think of the effect of John’s statement. Does it encourage John’s fellow students to give him the support and recognition he craves? Is John fostering effective teamwork with his fellow students? What would have brought him closer to his desired support? I bet you can think of three other things John could have said! His teammates are eager to help, but they probably don’t know how. Making sure teammates understand each other’s needs leads to more effective teamwork.

Be mindful of your intent

In retrospect it’s easy to point out mistakes. It’s not that easy to spot them just before you open your mouth. What helps me is being mindful of my intentions and needs. If you do this, you’re more likely to spot mismatches between action and desired effect. For me two very concrete activities help:

• Listening to body language and spoken language alike. If something doesn’t feel right, investigate right away.
• Keeping a diary. It’s great for keeping track of the things you truly want. They’ll be more top of mind. It’s also great for learning from mismatch mistakes.

What’s your most successful strategy to get the things you want? How do you get along and do effective teamwork? Share it in the comment section!

Team coaching with more Effect

When coaching a team I try to be mindful of other people’s mismatches. When I see friction, I quickly try to make the mismatch explicit with direct evidence. After the friction is resolved, it’s a great moment to discuss this insight with the whole team. This way more than just two people can learn and the team can quickly become more effective.

For brevity I’m splitting the summary in 8 separate articles. In the next article I discuss balancing your needs and shoulds. Be sure to share this article with whomever could benefit from it!

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Choosing by Advantages (CBA) is a decision-making system that acknowledges all decisions are subjective. It guides users however to collect, prioritize and compare facts before choosing.

Jim Suhr, the creator of Choosing by Advantages: “First, we teach people how to use correct data. Second, we teach them how to use data correctly.”

The basic idea of Choosing by Advantages

The basic idea is to look at differences between alternatives instead of weighing criteria. Classic choice methods use ‘positives’ and ‘negatives’. Every positive is a negative however, depending on the anchor you choose. CBA therefore advises to use clear anchors and compare the advantage of a difference.

CBA redefines some terms in decision making in a more precise way. Before I can explain Choosing by Advantages, we first need to be clear on those definitions.

• Alternatives: Things, plans or ideas from which you will be choosing one.
• Attributes: A property or consequence of an alternative. For instance: color, weight, estimated ROI, carbon footprint,…
• Advantage: The difference between the attributes of two alternatives. One of them is the anchor – usually the best alternative.
• Factor: An attribute that is important to the decision. You don’t factor in every attribute to a decision. That would be messy.
• Criterion: A filter to select alternatives that meet minimum requirements. Not used when comparing alternatives.

Example of Choosing by Advantages: my family’s summer holiday

Let’s look at an example here: choosing where to go on holiday with the family. We have to make a selection out of a couple of alternatives – considering my family doesn’t want to stay at home. The point here is that Choosing by Advantages facilitates the discussion with me and my stakeholders – that is: the rest of the family.

I kept the example relatively simple in order to be able to explain the method. The complete method has some extra bells and whistles to deal special cases.

Step 1: Select Alternatives

We have several criteria for the trip. The criteria we have for a holiday are:

• Wide open nature
• Different staying locations
• Some city trips
• Reasonably accessible for families

So no extreme mountain climbing. We came up with two trips that satisfied our criteria: a canoe trip in Sweden or a tour of the national parks in the north west of the USA. After the selection of the alternatives, the criteria are not helping us any further — they don’t make any difference anymore. So we move on.

Step 2: Decide on the factors

The next step is to select the deciding attributes of the trips – the factors. As factors my stakeholders and I considered:

• The number of unique natural wonders (like geysers, canyons and sequoia’s)
• The number of interesting cities on the trip
• The carbon footprint of the holiday
• Swimming possibilities
• The probability of there being great food to taste

Step 3: Gather data for attributes

The gathering of data can be math and research, like the calculation of the carbon footprint. However, it can also lead to interesting discussions between the stakeholders and a fruitful exchange of views. Take, for example, the Unique Natural Wonders. What counts as one? What doesn’t? We decided the Grand Canyon, Yellowstone Geyser and Sequoia’s counted, but lakes didn’t.

When all data have been found and decided on, it helps to underline the least preferable attributes. More isn’t always better!

Step 4: Calculate advantages

Now CBA starts to shine: we’re going to look at the differences between the alternatives. When they are numbers it’s simply a matter of calculation. When they are statements, it can be another comparative statement.

Step 5: Value advantages

We’re almost there. Now starts the difficult task of comparing the value of all advantages with each other. For this we start with the most important advantage and rate it 100. Next we discuss the comparative value of the advantages with the kids – our little stakeholders. They decided for instance that seeing one natural wonder was comparable to swimming and playing in the water for week.

After my family and I decided on the relative value of each advantage we could simply add up the scores.

Step 6: Decide with the budget in mind

The trip to Sweden is the clear winner here. But what about the money? Doesn’t cost of an alternative matter? My family doesn’t have a limitless holiday budget. Price however, is a special factor. That’s because money, like time, carries an opportunity cost. I can spend my time and money only once.

The trip to Sweden is not only the most advantageous, it weigh less on my budget too. Even if the US trip would have won, the price difference here means that it would not allow us to go skiing next winter. The whole holiday budget would be taken up. That would have led to another interesting discussion with my stakeholders: are these great US national parks also worth skipping a skiing holiday? I guess not.

Anyway, our choice is clear: we’re going to Sweden!

More resources about CBA

Rebecca Snelling’s excellent book “Choosing by Advantages” explains the principles well.

Here’s a video explainer, although it’s a little slow.

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