Why ‘friction thinkers’ see hidden opportunities first
Watch The Big Think Interview with organizational psychologist and author Bob Sutton.
When a customer, an employee, or a senior leader has set their sights on a certain course of action and then runs into obstacles that make it slower, harder, more frustrating, we call this Organizational Friction. Many times, that can be a bad thing, but best-selling author and organizational psychologist Bob Sutton argues that we can actually harness it to benefit us.
One thing that Sutton emphasizes in his book The Friction Project is that you should first ask yourself if your course of action is the ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ thing to do. If it’s the right thing to do, it should happen fast and be relatively frictionless. The ‘wrong’ thing to do is often full of friction, but the right thing, although it may have some ‘constructive friction,’ is often able to push forward and make progress without harsh obstacles.
Here are 2 easy tricks to solve any problem and make friction your secret weapon.
