The need to have instant answers, particularly in a business setting, is a strange thing. While companies need to move forward, taking a few minutes to find the right solution shouldn’t be a problem.
I see similar with political candidates. While I expect them to be well-informed on various aspects of their role, if they need to ponder a question and get back with an answer later, that should be perfectly fine.
Seth Godin summed this up in a recent podcast, where he said:
“Well, why exactly do we need to produce the answer in real time? It’s not a game show. That in fact, when we go asynchronous, not all at once, but when we have it ready using a system like Slack, it’s easy to show that we could be more productive if we want to be.”
As an enneagram 5, I often feel the need to have the answers to everything, but I know that it’s a fool’s errand. If my team needs an answer to something, taking a few minutes to research the proper solution should never be an issue.
Speed shouldn’t be a measure
It’s similar to what Malcolm Gladwell shared regarding lawyers, and how silly it is that they’re measured on how quickly they can answer questions. Speed should be a factor, sure, but the main thing is getting the answer correct and that’s simply not valued as highly on tests like the LSAT. His main thought from there is that “when we decide who is smart enough to be a lawyer, we use a stopwatch“. Why?
2D vs 3D content
I think much of Seth’s concern, as he alluded to with his comment about Slack, is that we’re holding unnecessary meetings. If we need to talk through deep ideas, a real-time conversation might be valuable. If straight answers are all that is needed, then an asynchronous solution (like Slack or email) is likely a far better way to go.
