I propose that we revive the Court Jester profession and make it a mandatory role in every Enterprise. Their mission will be to shed light on the inconvenient truths and convenient fictions that undermine achievement.

Don’t get me wrong. Most fictions aren’t due to intentional deception. They’re the unconscious product of human minds still optimized for the hunter-gatherer environment. The two systems that interpret sensory information and create thought can’t accurately process the speed and complexity of the modern environment. 

System 1 works continuously below the conscious level, matching patterns, taking mental shortcuts and machine-gunning thoughts into awareness.  It’s responsible for gut reactions, intuition and every little thought that pops effortlessly into our pretty heads. We share this capability with all other animals because it was a necessary adaptation for survival. For instance, creatures that didn’t have an instant fight-or-flight response at the sound of a predator wouldn’t live to pass on their genes. The problem now is that System 1 hasn’t evolved to accurately interpret today’s info-glutted, multicultural, rapidly changing environment. The underlying heuristics jump to wrong conclusions that we experience as our reality.

System 2 is what we experience as conscious thought. We know we’re thinking. It’s the form of thought that allowed early humans to figure out how to cultivate crops, domesticate animals and found agricultural civilizations. It’s the system that enables science, philosophy, business strategy and mathematics. It falls short today because we place way more demands on System 2 than can be handled.  Like Barbie said, “Math is hard.” To conserve energy, it routinely solves for easier problems than the ones we need answered. It disregards information that doesn’t support its preconceptions. It shrugs off duties that can be passed on to System 1. 

The net result is that there’s a significant gulf between our perception of reality and the way things really are. Researchers have identified more than 150 cognitive biases, systematic errors in perception that recur predictably in particular circumstances. Their most insidious aspect is that we have no direct perception that our perceptions are distorted. We experience them as reality. 

Corporate Jesters will be adept in the art and science of facilitated processes that mitigate bias in critical functions like strategy, decision making, planning and research. Hmm. Sound familiar?

Lucid Choice provides processes and training to mitigate the impact of cognitive bias, foster deep collaboration and improve outcomes in areas such as process improvement, product development, decision making, team performance and Corporate Jester training,