Stepping Outside Our Echo Chambers

What is an Echo Why break out of our What can I do?

Chamber? Echo Chambers? It can be small things, such as including We all know what an echo is—the Simply put, Echo Chambers hold us back. more variety in your reading material, listening to different news channels, or repetition and reflection of sound. In an The world is very diverse—and so is even adding diverse friends and Echo Chamber, similar ideas, AT&T. Everyone around us has different colleagues to your life. information, and beliefs are continuously backgrounds, styles, perspectives, and repeated and amplified until they are all ideas. When you seek out and get to know that’s heard, drowning out differing people who have different perspectives Proactively embracing that diversity is points of view. than yours, you will gain a deeper essential to moving our business When people are in Echo Chambers, they forward. It is important that we make a understanding and discover how much you have in common. only hear and process information from conscious effort to seek out differing one perspective because they are points of view and explore all the options As a result, you may find yourself looking surrounded by others who think, believe, to develop the best solutions and drive at situations from a variety of and act just like they do. innovation. perspectives and having a deeper appreciation for the people around you. As a result, differing ideas or other “I am no longer dead set in my ways After all, it’s by exploring different points points of view are disregarded, excluded, because I finally realized how the of view that respect, trust, and or ignored. people I was around and the understanding can grow. “I only like to visit Web sites and watch information I was exposed to changed “Having lunch with different co- shows that share my views.” me. Listening to other points of view has truly opened my eyes.” workers has expanded my understanding of the people I work with – and how much I like them!” Moving Beyond Binary Thinking

What is Binary Thinking? How can we stop our What can I do? Binary Thinking? Binary means “two.” Binary Thinking When you think about it, few important occurs when we believe there are only While our brains largely find comfort in decisions come down to two clear two—generally opposite—ways to look at taking the simplest approach to a choices. Achieving success often a situation: right/wrong, good/bad, problem, in reality, our world—and our requires exploring the gray areas. And love/hate, etc. business—is too complex for this way of what was correct at one point in the thinking to always be successful. process can change significantly further Having a binary perspective prevents a along in the process. By moving past our person from considering other Make an effort to recognize when you’re binary tendencies, we stay agile and alternatives or options to address an defaulting to binary thinking. Then open to all the options for success. issue, as well as unique and creative ideas. consciously regroup and open your mind to new ideas and options. It may seem Take action! Build on what you’ve Limited perspectives can put you in an learned by sharing this information with Echo Chamber! daunting at first but here’s a way to start. Consider the following questions: your co-workers, friends, and family. Point out where considering other If you’ve ever struggled to have people • Are there other options that could points of view would make sense. Help see your different point of view, you work? them open themselves up to new ideas might have been a victim of their binary • What additional ideas should I and different ways of thinking. thinking. consider? • Who else can I talk with? When we keep an open mind, think “I’m really having difficulty with one of • Where else might I find new ideas? freely, and find common ground, we’ll my team members who constantly find ourselves moving away from binary shoots down my ideas. He seems to “I was dead set in my ways. I didn’t thinking and becoming more inclusive. think his way is the only way. realize how much the information I That is what success looks like. Solutions was exposed to and the people I was unfold from everyone’s creativity and around, molded how I saw things. diversity in thought! Opening myself up to other points of “Using our team’s diverse perspectives view has truly opened my eyes. gave us an innovative solution!”