The folly of Conventional wisdom
CONVENTIONAL wisdom is a generally accepted theory or belief. To be generally accepted requires most to agree and believe with a practice or perspective.
Prior to 500 BC, believing that the Earth was flat was conventional wisdom.
It was also conventional wisdom that the Earth was the centre of the universe. When Galileo claimed that the Earth orbits the Sun, the church sentenced him to life imprisonment in 1633.
Galileo served his sentence under house arrest and died in 1642. I was born on April 2 — my mother was in labour for 19 hours. I think she did not want me to be born on April 1. After my birth, she suspected that I exhibited the traits of someone who had been dropped on his head when I was born.
I guess it is too late for me to sue the Lautoka Hospital. I doubt if they kept any records 79 years ago. And the statute of limitations for such cases expires after 50 years.
Also my wife and eldest daughter were born there and do not show any signs of abnormal behavior so my lawsuit would not have a precedent anyway.
All my classmates' parents (and I supposed other parents too) told their children not waste food as the kids in India had nothing to eat.
Once some of my friends were having dinner (kaddu of all things) at my place. They pretended to enjoy it. My father saw my plate and went into a lengthy tirade about my not finishing my food.
Was it conventional wisdom that we had to finish our meals no matter how tasteless it was just because kids in India were starving? And it is still a mystery to me how that would have helped them. Ever since then, I do not have much tolerance for conventional wisdom. And as I grew up, I didn't like ass kissers, flag wavers or team players.
I like people who buck the system when it makes sense – and most times it does. Oftentimes, conventional wisdom is not wisdom at all. So, why do the majority accept it?
Fear. The fear of being ridiculed. We fear being left out, disliked or unaccepted. So strong is this motivation that we will support and even defend this idiocy rather than go against convention.
In 1962, the management theorist Peter Drucker highlighted a major shift in the labour market: the emergence of a new breed of employee — ‘knowledge workers’, as opposed to the physical capital of manual workers. But the increase in skilled labour was not matched by an increase of high-level jobs.
Even today very few occupations require more qualifications than was the case fifty years ago. There were a growing number of (over) qualified graduates busy in unrewarding posts, giving them the impression they have been up-skilled by inventing an array of fancy titles.
And the trend still continues. Many of the so-called new posts are bullshit jobs that are idiotic and meaningless.
All this leads to organisational stupidity: giving highly-educated individuals useless tasks with which they then go along meekly — like sheep. Unconventional wisdom is by definition out of the ordinary. To be out of the ordinary requires courage.
Courage is not the absence of fear, but a willingness to pursue something despite the fear so eloquently expressed in the book, Feel the Fear but Do It Anyway. My being hired as a Group HR Manager for a premier retail company was an excellent example of this. Most young folks rarely challenge conventional wisdom regarding education. They still study subjects that have no real life applications. Take, for example, the TOTS course.
It has four modules of mostly worthless content. Which genius came up with that crap? I was compelled to complete two modules just for teaching public speaking skills. It had zero relevance to what I needed to do. As a matter of fact, it left a bad taste in my mouth.
If you are wondering which was worse – the bland kaddu curry or the mindless TOTS units - TOTS wins hands down.
If you do go to college, remember, there's more to it than just the classroom. You do need to do well in your courses and it helps to understand the material thoroughly.
Once you take control of the academic side, it's wise to get out there and meet some people. If you don't take the time to use college for the networking opportunities that come your way, then you might struggle once you're out of the college environment.
It is very important to focus on self-education. Keep in mind the timeless wisdom of Jim Rohn “Formal education will make you a living; self-education will make you a fortune.”
Conventional wisdom in personal finance can be detrimental to your financial health and could lead to the syndrome of dying broke. Here are some examples of financial conventional wisdom: Invest for the long run in a portfolio of stocks, bonds, and mutual funds. Save your money in the bank. Debt is always bad.
In a way, life without conventional wisdom would be life without gravity – nothing to keep you grounded. So, it's not all bad! Our challenge, as smart people, is to question conventional wisdom.
Embrace the genius of Buddha who said, “do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it. Do not believe in anything simply because it is spoken and rumored by many”.
Do not believe in anything simply because it is found written in your religious books. Do not believe in anything merely on the authority of your teachers and elders.
And for what it is worth, here is a quote from me – “The only authority you need to submit to is your wife – mainly for personal safety since we can't wear PPE all the time.”
But seriously folks, our world is in desperate need of unconventional wisdom. We need more people to find the courage to be out of seek the truth so that our world will provide greater opportunity for all. What about you? Want to be unconventional?
ARVIND MANI is a former teacher who is passionate about quality education. He lived in the US for 35 years and was actively involved in training youths to improve their speaking skills. The views expressed are the author’s and do not necessarily reflect the views of this newspaper.