Attaining Mastery

There are many ways to attain mastery; the three that stood out to me were synthesizing all forms of knowledge, widening your vision, and connecting to your environment. Robert Greene goes in-depth with all his steps, highlighting a few in his Talks at Google on Mastery. In Design Thinking for Strategic Innovation, many of these steps from Mastery are sprinkled throughout Idris Mootee’s writing. Like mastery, design thinking looks simple on paper but is challenging in practice. When deep into an organization, bias and general complacency become hard to overcome.

Synthesize all Forms of Knowledge

In the book Mastery, Greene uses Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, expanding upon the strategy of synthesizing all forms of knowledge. He shows us that conforming to society can be dangerous on both sides. Not conforming can mean being considered an outcast, yet conforming can hinder one’s path to mastery (Greene, 2012, p. 308-309.) In Talks at Google, Greene discusses how outsiders have an advantage in creativity and knowledge, which stems from a few things. One being ignorance, not being afraid to ask questions, having a different upbringing, and finally, a unique educational background. Being an outsider can help you see connections. Greene admits that being an outsider is not ideal for everyone, so we can take notes, try to loosen up our minds, and open our minds for more knowledge (Greene, 2013, 35:30.) In a similar light when Idris Mootee expands on ways to be a better design thinker, he talks about being comfortable with the unknown and bringing creativity into an enterprise. Creativity can take design thinking to the next level and improve your understanding of your target users (Mootee, 2013.)

Widening Your Vision

Greene warns about the dangers of having a narrow vision and being locked into the present. Widening one's perspective means being able to think bigger and be more dynamic with any strategy. Staying narrow means being influenced by things that usually have little to no meaning or by emotions and not what is valuable (Greene, 2012, p. 296-297.) Greene talks about subverting your pattern of thinking in Talks at Google. He says, “Creative people have the ability to move against these patterns, to actively subvert them and thereby expand what they consider” (Greene, 2013, 46:21.)  Mootee talks about how design thinking is iterative, and without being iterative and open to change, getting boxed in is very easy—being iterative means having “ongoing definition, redefinition, representation, assessment, and visualization” (Mootee, 2013). Essentially, if you can think bigger, you can see bigger and create better.

Connect to Your Environment

Robert Greene discusses the importance of being able to connect with your environment. Allowing the brain to be utilized similarly to our ancestors will bring forth high levels of Mastery (Greene, 2012, pp. 272-273). These primal powers are discussed in many places and with various examples. In Mastery, Greene uses the Caroline Islanders as an example of how they connected to the vast chaotic ocean to navigate and survive. In Talks at Google, Greene uses the example of age as an issue due to the feeling of knowing it all and never having the curiosity or the need to connect (Greene, 2013, 55:26.) In Design Thinking for Strategic Innovation, Idris Mootee talks about relying on your gut and freeing yourself when breaking the pattern of using a “rational-logical-linear model” in an organization (Mootee, 2013.) All these talk about different environments, but all talk about connecting and opening up to that environment to help attain mastery and what you desire.

Summation

Reflecting on these three ways to attain Mastery can seem extremely simple on paper. However, putting them into practice requires discipline and self-awareness.  Robert Greene uses many excellent examples from his steps; these are just a few from his list.  Idris Mootee goes into great depth on design thinking, and it was fun to see the overlap of strategies sprinkled into his writing. What I take away from this is that I need to ask better questions and think about the big picture. I have worked in many environments where complacency can run very high. Complacency can be dangerous for innovation and creativity.

Greene, R. (2012, November 13.) Mastery. Viking Adult.

Greene, R. (2013, April 7.) Mastery. Talks at Google. Retrieved from YouTube at https://youtu.be/J4v_34RRCeE

Mootee, I. ( 2013, August 21.) Design Thinking for Strategic Innovation: What They Can't Teach You at Business or Design School. John Wiley & Sons. Retrieved from O’Reilly at https://learning.oreilly.com/library/view/design-thinking-for/9781118748688/xhtml/Chapter01.html