Here’s a talk by Rory Sutherland, Vice Chairman, Ogilvy called “Perspective is Everything”, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iueVZJVEmEs (18:24) [TEDx Athens, 5-May-2012]
He talks about the power of reframing things and argues that psychological ideas are not given the same weight as rational “spreadsheet” ideas when it comes to budgetary decision making. Sutherland notes that happiness may be less related to our circumstances and more related to the sense of control we feel we have over our lives. He makes the point that “Impressions have an insane effect on what we think and what we do” and are often overlooked in a rational approach. The sweet spot is the intersection of technology, psychology and economics. For us, this is part of management controls, organisational change management and organisational governance.
Some things to consider:
Exploring technology deficit. Whether more / new technology adds the value we expect.
Choosing our feelings. Name things to suit the intended feeling.
Valuing the cost / benefit of change. Is money just money, or something more?
What can you name that makes you happy? Where is your sense of control strongest? What value do you place on money?
How does this thinking apply to you as a Project Manager? What technology deficit are your teams solving for? What are the feelings that you and the team are looking to turn around? What activities / solutions are providing the most value? How is value measured?
Why is this important? Good question. We get to choose our perspective every minute of every day. It may be coloured by our experiences, our finances, our access to technology. Though, we always have a choice to change it. By taking this choice we can increase our sense of control over our lives and open up our decision making horizons.
For further viewing / reading:
2019 Top IT Audit Risks, Steven Gin, Jamey Loupe, https://www.bdo.com/getattachment/Events/Top-IT-Audit-Risks/Speakers/2019-IAWebinar_Course4_TopITAuditRisks_092419_FINAL.pdf.aspx?lang=en-US (65 slides) [BDO, 24-Sep-2019]
Cities and Happiness: Ranking and Analysis (Auckland = 16), https://worldhappiness.report/ed/2020/cities-and-happiness-a-global-ranking-and-analysis (21 minute read) [World Happiness Report, 20-Mar-2020]
Weekly Economic Update , https://treasury.govt.nz/publications/weu/weekly-economic-update-7-august-2020 (2,300 words, plus informative graphics) [NZ Treasury, 7-Aug-2020]
Inviting you to have a view / read and to have a chat with me about your thoughts.
[Originally posted internally in my role as Project Management Practice Lead at The Warehouse Group.]