Can admitting you were wrong, destroying your own ideas and moving on to new ideas be a strength?
Let’s take a look.
Charlie Munger’s Perspective
After an extraordinary life as an investor and with a trove of publicly available quotes and commentary spanning decades, the passing of Charlie Munger inspired countless columns paying tribute through reflecting on his life and words.
In a world of fast wisdom served on platforms designed to addict us to the easy dopamine of endless info bites, Munger’s commitment to producing decades of consistent quality longform “content” has given us mere investing mortals the kind of insights that you can’t gain from a reel.
Some of Munger’s better known quotes reflect the genuinely timeless wisdom of not only his approach to investing, but also his approach to life.
“I never allow myself to hold an opinion on anything that I don’t know the other side’s argument better than they do,” is a well known Munger quote.
It stands in direct contrast to the unintended consequence of the increasingly siloed effect of an online information world where algorithms are designed to confirm biases rather than broaden understanding.
When the algorithm serves up more of what it knows you’ve already viewed, you’re unlikely to inadvertently stumble across in-depth analysis of the alternative argument or viewpoint.
It’s this understanding of opposing viewpoints that Munger described as vital.
“We all are learning, modifying, or destroying ideas all the time. Rapid destruction of your ideas when the time is right is one of the most valuable qualities you can acquire. You must force yourself to consider arguments on the other side.”
Charlie Munger
Removing your ego from your ideas to allow you to learn and as a result modify or move on from an idea is easier said than done. We tend to have a lot of our ego tied up in our ideas and the execution of them.
Sticking with an idea or an investment beyond it’s used by date is easy. Rethinking ideas and moving forward is important but it’s hard. That’s why it’s such a valuable quality. If it was easy, everyone would be doing it.
Sophocles Perspective
Munger’s approach reflects a concept that Sophocles explored in the Athenean tragedy “Antigone” which was written and first performed in 441BC. Sophocles’ plays have stood the test of time because the ideas within them are timeless.
“Let not your first thought be your only thought. Think if there cannot be some other way,” Heamon says to his father the King as he pleads with him to explore alternate viewpoints and also provides him with a road map to do it.
Haemon goes on to reiterate the idea that moving on from an idea when the time is right is a strength not a weakness,
“Surely to think your own the only wisdom,
And yours the only word, the only will,
Betrays a shallow spirit, an empty heart.It is no weakness for the wisest man
Antigone, Sophocles
To learn when he is wrong, know when to yield.”
Haemon pleads with his father to acknowledge his finite understanding and show the strength to move on from an idea that is no longer right.
His plea doesn’t have the desired effect.
The temptation to dig in behind a first thought is so strong that the King can’t move on to a better way.
If admitting you were wrong, destroying your own ideas and moving on to new ideas can be a strength, how do you do this in practice?
Four Steps
Charlie Munger and Sophocles indicate four simple steps in the quest to understand alternative viewpoints.
Step One: Acknowledge that your first thought might not be your best thought
It’s important to understand and acknowledge that your first thought is unlikely to reflect all that can or should be known about a topic.
That’s not to say that your ideas aren’t good, but anyone who has studied for an exam, started a business or tried to be an effective parent knows that the first thought you have is often not your best work.
Don’t get offended by this fact. It’s just a reality.
Use your first thought as a starting point for exploring an idea or a concept.
Don’t lock yourself into seeing your first idea as the only possible idea that can be held.
Step Two: Identify alternative viewpoints and work to understand them
Conceptualising the understanding of opposing arguments as a strength is crucial.
Your understanding of any concept can only be improved by putting the effort into learning and knowing about the alternative views that are out there.
Assume other people out there have a different opinion and actively seek out the reasons and logic behind the opinion that they hold. Work to understand the alternative viewpoints even better than the people who hold them understand them.
Knowing alternative options, ideas and arguments even better than the people who hold them know them will vastly improve the decisions you make in investing, business, work, parenting and life.
Step Three: Accept you don’t have all the answers and seek advice
Don’t let pride, ego or a belief in your own intellect trick you into thinking you have all the answers.
Constantly seek to expand the knowledge you have. Be a continual learner.
You don’t have infallible wisdom. You don’t have a perfect understanding of everything that’s out there that can be known. None of us do. It’s not possible and it’s not the goal.
Understand that seeking advice is a strength.
Step Four: Know when to move on from an idea
If your work and research into understanding other sides of an argument leads you to believe it’s time to change your opinion, then change your opinion.
It isn’t a weakness for even the wisest person to learn that they were wrong, or that the opinion that they held is no longer right.
Knowing when to move on from an idea you hold is crucial in investing, politics, relationships, business and life in general.
Don’t let the sunk cost of your previous investment in time, money or knowledge chain you to a viewpoint that is no longer tenable. Knowing when to move on is key.
The key is always to do your best. And then when you know better, do better.
Remember…
Accept that being wrong can be right if you reach a situation where the things you have learned mean your previous position is untenable.
If you find yourself in that situation, have the wisdom to change your opinion.
After all. It’s not about being right. It’s about having the right mindset.
