When you approach a problem, are you doing ego work or detective work?
There’s a difference in how you show up if you’re looking to investigate and find evidence that confirms your conclusion is right versus if you’re looking to find evidence that reveals the right conclusion.
When you’re doing ego work, you assume all your beliefs and observations are facts and close the door to curiosity, learning, and new possibilities. You let your biases get the best of you so you can assert your narrative, whether or not it is supported by broader evidence.
When you’re doing detective work, you’ve embraced an investigative mindset: you seek to uncover the truth. You’re humble, open-minded, and curious. You observe, ask questions, listen, and demonstrate empathy.
When you’re doing detective work, you collect all the dots and seek to connect the dots. You gather and assess all the available evidence and seek to uncover new perspectives, insights, and relationships between facts.
You work to detect what’s possible and improbable and eliminate the impossible. You approach a problem with a view that all narratives are possible—not just yours—until they’re not and you don’t hesitate to eliminate your own if that’s what your investigation reveals.
It’s harder work to do detective work, but it’s work that leads to better conclusions.
