The point of view of the impossible. Philip Dick, Fredric Brown and leadership in reverse.

The point of view of the impossible. Philip Dick, Fredric Brown and leadership in reverse.

You all remember that. Get ready for a tear of emotion.

In the rain, at night, a man with magic hair looks his end in the eye and tells why his life is about to have an unfair ending: “I have seen things that you humans could not imagine: fighting ships in flames at the off the ramparts of Orion, and I saw the B-rays flashing in the dark near the gates of Tannhäuser. And all those moments will be lost in time, like tears in the rain. It’s time to die. ”, And he goes out. How is it possible? And why does the desire for life of a replicant who does not accept his end overwhelm us with emotion? Because it is an impossible point of view. (Do androids also dream of electric sheep? Philip K. Dick)

A team of scientists builds the most perfect computational machine that exists, which will have the management of everything that humans have put together up to that point. It wasn’t easy, they put all their creativity and tenacity into it. It is now done. What could be the first question to ask the machine? What can be the most useful truth that it can disclose to us? It is decided to ask the question of the questions. Does God exist? Scientists activate communication and wait. Here comes the answer. “Now yes.”. I see you, a thrill has gone through you. Also here. Because? What is baffling about this answer? Giving voice to the impossible. (The answer, Fredric Brown)

The reason I stress (and tease you) with these plots of stories and novels by Philip K. Dick and Fred Brown is that the reverse, or more generically impossible, point of view is truly an enriching point of view when we ask ourselves questions. strategy or method.

Dick and Brown always start from a common assumption and definitely deny it: a replicant does not want to be deactivated because he loves life, it is possible to create the perfect machine and solve all our problems, time can flow backwards … I could stay here an hour to tell you all their plots.

What will it be like when I reach the goal?
How could I not get there? What could stop me?
If I were a climber and my route was a climb, how would I plan the descent?

You see, even here I don’t think about how I will get from A to B: I think about what it will be like to be in B, I think about how I could do the reverse path and what, in this case, the obstacles would be. You have to climb, are you tired of thinking about how you will get to the top?

Try to think about how you would descend from the top!

In ontological coaching we have a similar method, the Merlin method. The coachee imagines that he has arrived at his destination, with respect to his desired future. He imagines what emotions he will feel and how he will find himself, and then goes back retracing the steps that led him there.

Changing point of view and striving to redesign reality in an unusual, yet logical way, changes our perception of a problem or challenge and increases our reactivity.

With Paolo Chinetti, in #ilteamgiusto, we told a lot about what our brain structure prompts us to do when it wants to make us safe: follow through experience, use what you know, decide quickly. Use your reptilian brain, your limbic brain – don’t waste time getting your prefrontal cortex functional!

Instead, giving space to the impossible, the reverse, the reverse forces us to abandon our logic and make the most precious part of the brain we have work.

Try to think of a problem that scares you, that you cannot solve, and look at it from an impossible point of view:

But what if it was up to me?
What if I was the one to decide?
What if I’m the boss?
What if you don’t know?
What if I were in his place?
What if it’s not true?
What if it happens?

But don’t limit yourself to the question, construct the whole story with rigor in the light of a world that you have turned upside down and be amazed at what you will discover!

To close I give you a beautiful title: I am alive and you are dead by Emmanuel Carrère. The life of Philip K. Dick told by a champion, other than Limonov !!!