Every single one of us operates from an inherited collection of conclusions about what is true and how the world works. We take action, create strategy, and move our lives forward based on what we think are likely outcomes. Makes sense—but what if we’re working from some false conclusions? We can scan human history and point to endless examples of people supporting false conclusions: In the 18th century, for example, the sun revolved around the earth. This was irrefutable fact! And everyone on the planet could observe its truth. The greatest scientific and mathematical minds of the day spent enormous effort to create models that supported this ‘fact.’ Well, we all know how that one turned out. On a more personal level, how many of our factual realities might be wrong? What are the consequences? How can we get more clever about challenging our facts and our conclusions?

Take a moment to scan your own life for possible inconsistencies. Have you ever operated from a solid – but exaggerated or even false -- knowledge that you aren’t competent in something? Maybe you hold that you’re lousy with technology, can’t fix a thing without the yellow pages, haven’t got the mind for finances. How about this one: have you ever created a ‘truth’ around a circumstance and then bought in hook line and sinker to your own story? Here’s one: ‘She never looks at me, so it’s pretty obvious she’s not interested.’ Or, ‘my boss will never promote me into senior management—it’s an old boys club—with no place for women.’ You can see where I’m driving, right? We make up stories, believe our own press, and then consciously or not take action that supports our ‘facts.’ So, the man who concludes the woman is uninterested may decide she’s stuck up, or rude and choose not to connect, when all along the woman is merely enormously shy or has heard rumors that the guy is involved with someone else! The young professional woman who ‘knows’ there’s no place for her at the top, may unintentionally create that exact reality for herself by backing off of challenging assignments or not taking the kinds of risks that would be necessary to join the senior management team. Her logic? “What’s the point?” Here are some questions you might ask yourself to uncover some of the false truths that may be operating in your personal or professional worlds. Give yourself a few minutes and take notes on what you uncover. • What conclusions have I made about my life? • What conclusions am I imposing on others? • What conclusions do I have about my skills? • What conclusions have I made about my team? • What conclusions have I made about my boss?

We make up conclusions out of words, beliefs, feelings, stories, experiences, education and statistics. Most of us live in the land of common conclusions. On a personal level we believe what has been handed down to us. In large organizations, these conclusions create the reality for what is possible (and impossible!), for the direction of the company, and even for its culture. The challenge we all face is suspending what we ‘know’ to be true, so that there is space for other alternatives to bubble up. Some of our conclusions may be useful and enable us to move forward. Hold on tight to these. Other conclusions create false obstacles and need to be reevaluated. The clever individual is wiling to challenge the latter even in the face of stiff and vocal opposition from the prevalent group-think around him. Take a closer look at any one of the conclusions you discovered about yourself, your boss, your team, your child. Challenge the assumption you hold and let your mind explore what might be possible if the conclusion were false. Ask yourself the following questions about your conclusion: • What are the possible holes in my conclusion? • If I could change the conclusion, what might become possible? • What is a better/more liberating/more energizing/more interesting conclusion When we are willing and open to poking holes at our conclusions, we invite fresh thinking-- sometimes break-through thinking. The ability of a leader, or a parent or a friend to see and invent fresh conclusions that empower her staff, her child, her pal, has enormous impact on what is possible for the organization, the child or the friendship. The first and most important step to relinquishing limiting conclusions is as simple as choosing to do so.