Go Slow to go faster

An interesting concept that I learned in China, adding some spice from the web!

Let us start with a true World war II story

During World War II, Navy fighter planes had a watch embedded in the steering column – not to help the pilot keep time, but to help save his life. The first step in a pilot’s emergency response process was to wind the watch. It may sound crazy, but Navy psychologists had proven that the split second required for a pilot to wind the watch was enough time for him to clear his head of distractions and to focus instead on the emergency at hand. The one second spent winding that watch bought him considerable time, enabling him to react in a more logical, coherent way.

You might have guessed more about the topic by now!

In today’s business world, we are all so busy, so stretched, so overcommitted, and so inundated with information, that we sometimes forget to wind the watch – to focus on what’s important and create space to accomplish our ultimate objectives…

Time to slow down and think. Which got me thinking…in today’s fast-paced work world, maybe there’s wisdom in slowing down. I know that it’s counterintuitive, as shorter and faster is usually preferred over longer and slower. After all, today is all about quick communication: email, social media including 140-character Tweets, webinars instead of conferences. We’re all just so busy. Therefore, quicker decisions, quicker action, quicker resolution allows us to move on to other things.

Today, speed reigns.    But speed also kills.

Frank Partnoy, a professor of law/finance at the University of San Diego and author of “Wait: The Art and Science of Delay,” summed it up in an HBR article (“Act Fast, but Not Necessarily First”): “The crush of technology forces us to snap react. We blink, when we should think. E-mail, social media, and 24-hour news are relentless. Our time cycle gets faster every day.”

He continues by declaring that, as decision-making accelerates, long-term strategy becomes even more crucial, and that those who find time to step back and think about the big picture – even for a few minutes – will have a major advantage over those who knee-jerk react. “If everyone else moves too quickly,” he says, “we can win by going slow.” He believes that humans – leaders – are often better off resisting biology and technology by managing delay.

Partnoy references a military strategy, similar to winding the watch I mention above.

A decision-making framework developed by military strategist John Boyd decades ago is still being used by many military (and business) leaders today. It’s called the OODA model, simply the acronym for Observe, Orient, Decide, and Act. Its premise is basically allowing your enemy (or, in business, your competitor or other third party market forces) to go first, and then quickly react to the situation.
It’s about not necessarily being first (with a product, a process, a technology, or what have you), but being the fastest at responding to changing market conditions (and “market” can be external or internal to the organization).

As Partnoy indicates, the ultimate goal of OODA is not being first, but instead having a fast response, which requires slowing things down up front so that you can move quickly when ready.

Here is another true story of a legend: George Brett, ace baseball “pure hitter” - had a natural swing and was incredibly comfortable in the batter’s box, especially during critical moments of the game.

But he revealed years after his retirement that the secret of his hitting success was in his ability to see the ball out of the pitcher’s hand, and in a split second – by observing the velocity and rotation of the baseball stiches – determine what type of pitch was being thrown. Are you kidding me?! Brett – and I imagine many of the other hitting greats – could actually see the quarter-inch red stitching on a three inch baseball some 60 feet away, oh, and travelling some 95 miles an hour at his head? I guess that is what separates the good from the great in major league baseball. But it also illustrates a key point here: in doing so, Brett was able to delay his swing by milliseconds but adjust with the “right” swing given the pitch that was being thrown. In essence, he slowed down to speed up. And he is still considered one of the top dozen or so best hitters to ever play the game

There is a saying in martial arts: you have to go slow to go fast. It means something different than what it sounds like. The idea is that you have to be relaxed  - untense  - to move as quickly as you are capable of.

Go slow today, to go faster in life! Think of the things to "untense/Slow down" to respond better to the different challenges of life :)