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The Monday Morning Memo

Duality

February 9, 2004

Duality

“Proverbs contradict each other. That is the wisdom of a people.” – Stanislaw Lec

We've said it in a thousand different ways for a thousand different years. Isaac Newton said it famously: “For every action there is an equal but opposite reaction.” In the movie Unbreakable, Samuel L. Jackson said it theatrically: “Now that I know who you are, I know who I am.” But I think our creator said it originally: “God called the light 'day,' and the darkness he called 'night.' And there was evening, and there was morning – the first day.” Twenty-two verses later, we are told, “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God – male and female he created them.”

The ancient Chinese called it yin and yang. Modern politicos call it liberalism and conservatism. Electricians call it positive and negative. Entrepreneurs call it risk and reward.

Let's revisit Isaac Newton: action vs. reaction… is one of these wrong? Of course not. But when faced with the concept of duality, small minds will often cling to one and disparage the other. You know people like this, don't you? You hear them saying things like, “It has to be either one way or the other. It can't be both.”

When Albert Einstein was serving as the proctor for a university test on advanced theoretical physics, a student raised his hand and said, “Sir, I think there's been a mistake. This is the same test we were given last year,” and Albert replied, “Yes, the test is the same as last year, but this year the answers are different.”

In your business, are this year's answers different from the answers last year?

Physicist Niels Bohr, that legendary friend of Albert Einstein, said, “The opposite of a true statement is a false statement. But the opposite of a profound truth is usually another profound truth.”

Gosh, I love that guy. One of the most life-changing realizations you'll ever have is exactly what he said: “The opposite of a profound truth is usually another profound truth.”

Do you have the self-confidence, the courage, the greatness to consider the perspective of your adversary before becoming entrenched in your position? I believe it was Paul Hewitt who said, “The person who can state his antagonist's point of view – to the satisfaction of the antagonist – is more likely to be correct than the person who cannot.” Do you listen closely enough to articulate your antagonist's point of view, or do you – as most of us do – listen only for loopholes to attack as soon as they're finished talking?

“When people talk, listen completely. Most people never listen.” – Ernest Hemingway

Give it a shot. As soon as you finish reading this, spend the next 60 minutes listening completely to everyone who speaks to you. Give your undivided attention. Don't begin forming your answers until they are completely finished speaking. Repeat to them precisely what you believe them to be asking of you – and get their agreement that you fully understand their perspective – before attempting to answer.

If you do it, this next hour could change your world.

Roy H. Williams

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“The detection of life elsewhere in the universe would be the greatest discovery of all time. Physics professor Enrico Fermi wondered why, given the age and vastness of the universe, and the presence of billions of stars and planets that have existed for billions of years, we have not yet been contacted by any other alien civilizations. This was his paradox.

Chatting with his colleagues over lunch in 1950, Fermi supposedly asked, ‘Where are they?’ our own galaxy contains billions of stars and there are billions of galaxies in the universe, so that is trillions of stars. If just a fraction of those anchored planets, that’s a lot of planets. If a fraction of those planets sheltered life, then there should be millions of civilizations out there. So why haven’t we seen them? Why haven’t they got in touch with us?

In 1961, Frank Drake wrote down an equation for the probability of a contactable alien civilization living on another planet in the Milky Way. This is known as the Drake equation. It tells us that there is a chance that we may coexist with another civilization but the probability is still quite uncertain. Carl Sagan once suggested that as many as a million alien civilizations could populate the Milky Way, but he later revised this down, and others since have estimated that the value is just one, namely humans.”

- Joanne Baker, Universe: 50 Ideas You Really Need to Know

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