"Imagine how hard physics would be if particles could think."

Dr. Murray Gell-Man, winner of the 1969 Nobel Prize in Physics, once said, "Imagine how hard physics would be if particles could think."  I don't know about you, but I thought physics was a really difficult subject in college (and I didn't even take the one that the engineering students took).  Quantum physics is even more of a mystery to me.  So, when a Nobel Prize winning physicist claims that physics would be even more difficult if subatomic particles (quarks, bosons, and leptons, etc) could think like humans, that catches my attention!

Managing people is hard.  It's not supposed to be easy.  Joe Dunn, writing for Medium explains why, "Management is hard because everybody is at least a little bit crazy."  He goes on, "The problem is people.  They’re a mystery."

Daniel Kahneman, who won the 2002 Nobel Prize in Economics, wrote an outstanding book called Thinking, Fast and Slow in 2011.  People are driven by two systems, which Kahneman calls System 1 (the "Fast" system, known by other authors as the emotional system) and System 2 (the "Slow" system, which is also known as the rational system).  When we are thinking and making decisions with System 2, we are being deliberate, methodical, and careful (hence, "slow").  Conversely, when we are thinking and making decisions with System 1 (and I use the word "thinking" here very loosely), we are using our instinct, or making decisions with our "gut" (hence, "fast").  

One of the examples that Kahneman uses is helpful to make the distinction between System 1 and System 2 even more clear.  Answer the following questions:

What is 2 x 2?

What is 17 x 24?

Most, if not all of us, likely answered both these questions correctly.  Most of us likely answered the first problem very quickly, almost instantaneously.  I bet that it took a little longer to answer the second one.  We were using System 1 (the "Fast" system) when we solved 2 x 2, and we were using System 2 (the "Slow" system) when we solved 17 x 24.

When we use System 1, our emotions can and often do take over.  And, even when System 2 thinking is appropriate for a given decision, System 1 thinking will take precedence when we are anxious, stressed, or just pressed for time.  The social psychologist and author Jonathan Haidt suggested another useful metaphor in his book, The Happiness Hypothesis.  Haidt suggests that our rational system (System 2) is like a rider on an elephant, which is our emotional system (System 1).  The rider thinks he is in control, but in reality it is the elephant who controls the situation.  Haidt writes, "I’m holding the reins in my hands, and by pulling one way or the other I can tell the elephant to turn, to stop, or to go. I can direct things, but only when the elephant doesn’t have desires of his own. When the elephant really wants to do something, I’m no match for him."

Now, consider that you are trying to manage an entire herd of elephants and their riders!  That is at least one reason why managing people can be so difficult.  We often assume that the members of our team are using System 2 (i.e. they are being rational), when in fact that they are using System 1!  As a matter of fact, one of the scientific truths of human nature is that people are often irrational - so much so, that we can predict it!

As Scott Keller and Carolyn Aiken from McKinsey & Company write, "We systematically fall victim to subconscious thought processes that significantly influence our behavior, even though our rational minds tell us they shouldn't."  Consider this example.  How many times have you spent several minutes driving around a crowded parking lot for that perfect spot that is close to the entrance (so that you are close and can "save time"), when it would have taken far less time just to park in any of the available parking spaces?  Understanding human psychology is so important, that W. Edwards Deming, one of the founders of the science of quality improvement, included it as one of the four components in his "System of Profound Knowledge":

Management isn't easy.  I have to again invoke another episode of one of my favorite television shows, The Office here.  During Season 7 in the episode entitled "Search Committee", the team at Dunder-Mifflin are trying to find a replacement manager for Michael Scott (after a couple of failed managers, one of which was played by the actor Will Ferrell).  Ryan Howard, the former temp and now full-time employee of the Scranton branch says, "I got away with everything under the last boss and it wasn't good for me.  So I want guidance.  I want leadership.  Lead me...when I'm in the mood to be led."

I have often said that managing change is one of the most important jobs for a leader in any organization.  Managing change is all about managing people.  And managing people is hard.  Using formal logic (it's called a syllogism by the way), if managing change requires managing people, and managing people is hard, then managing change is hard!

As it turns out, people generally want to be led, but only when they are in the mood to be led!  Managing people is hard, and by extension managing change is hard.  It's like herding elephants.  It requires a thorough understanding of psychology.  And at least one Nobel Prize-winning physicist suggests that it's even harder than quantum physics!