The new art of choosenology

In 2019 a large group of American CEOs, on behalf of the Business Roundtable association, signed a manifesto that endorses the need to understand large companies as much more than vehicles to generate the maximum value for their shareholders. Aligned with the stakeholder theory, they advocate instead the need for their organizations to balance the interests of a broader group of stakeholders.

Should the manifesto be more than a simple A4 page, which is yet to be demonstrated, managers around the world will have to cultivate a new art with greater magnitude: the art of choosenology.

Article by Miguel Pina e Cunha and Carolina Almeida Cruz | Reading time 3 minutes

The word, of course, does not exist. But the idea is the following: how do you make choices between opposites without having to ignore the tension between them? Life is full of opposition and trade-offs. What is gained on one side is lost on the other. That is life, and the life of an executive in particular: what is given to the manager is lost to the shareholder; what is given to the customer is lost to the employee; the bonus I will give Jane I won’t give John. What the Business Roundtable manifesto reminds us of is the need to think of choices as processes that occur over time and that imply more sense of dynamic balance and holistic gain than the mindset oriented towards independent gains and closed on short time exchanges.

Let us not forget that when we talk about managers, we talk about humans. We talk about ourselves. When we talk about the employee, we talk about you and me. How often do you have a chance to think about your life choices? What about smaller choices, like snoozing your alarm clock? Or eating fish or meat? The art of making choices is not an elite skill. It is a competence for us to survive. To be able to be more sapiens sapiens.

Progression does not mean evolution. The most evolved being is the one who better manages his energy according to his ability to choose faster, better and more effectively; but for whom? For yourself.

This art of managing trade-offs and, when possible, transforming them into paradoxes, that is, opposites that define each other and that last, is at the heart of choosenology. How to make the choices that best serve a diversity of agents, in the best possible way, over time. In the light of this new concept, making choices ceases to be a natural disposition and becomes a skill to cultivate systematically.

It is no longer a question of the paradox of choice but the choice of the paradox: how do you choose paradoxically, that is, in an integrative way. Choosing in an integrative way (one thing and the other or both-and) is not a low-key path. It is seeking to find ways to reconcile oppositions, to take advantage of diversity, to appreciate difference, to cultivate respect for the opposition.

In a world undergoing a polarization process, the art of choosenology is a critical skill to prevent today's choices from becoming a constraint on the possibilities of tomorrow.

As a result of the partnership Nova SBE x Mercer, the Adam’s Choice was launched as an executive learning experience lasting 8 months, with an immersion stage from May 28^th to May 30^th, 2020. This article was thus co-written with Carolina Almeida Cruz, Mercer's co-responsible for this strategic partnership.