THE LIE That Hijacked Problem-Solving
Coercion and compromise create sustainable solutions.
- Coercion gets me what I want today at the expense of you undermining and overthrowing me tomorrow. Manufacturing consent is the most powerful form of covert coercion ever invented.
- Compromising toward a midpoint between two surface positions produces the appearance of an agreement while the root causes of the problem remain unresolved.
WHO BENEFITS From You Believing the Problem-Solving Lie
Question #1: What function does coercion and compromise serve?
Answer #1: Maintaining the status quo no matter what and those dedicated to creating change without sufficient foresight and planning.
Question #2: Who most stands to gain from the use of coercion and compromise?
Answer #2: Those who benefit from political polarization and dividing citizens to water down their voice. (For more information about who benefits from political polarization and dividing citizens, see the “Who Benefits�? section of the Hijacking of Patriotism page.)
Many groups have hijacked the problem-solving process. Here are a few:
- Political and religious ideologues tend to be completely closed to any perspective other than their own.
- Fake journalists are far more concerned with their benefactors, advertisers and popularity ratings than with doing responsible fact checking and presenting complete pictures.
- Far too many special-interest groups want their way with their cause no matter how much they might hurt others in the process.
- Far too many psychotherapists teach couples compromise as a first choice problem-solving method.
- And far too many supposed negotiators prefer coercion over compromise when possible.
But the real problem solving hijacker is our educational system. Far too many children graduate from high school without a clue about critical thinking skills.
- They don’t know how to do responsible fact checking.
- They don’t know how to deeply understand all sides in the debate.
- They have woefully inadequate understandings of how to create sustainable happiness, health, prosperity and patriotism.
Without these foundations, how can students possibly become effective problem solvers? These are the folks the problem-solving hijackers have an absolute field day with. Day after day, year after year.
For examples of how the manufacturing of consent has been used to get you to buy the problem-solving lie, click here.
THE TRUTH About Problem-Solving
Sustainable problem-solving requires informed consent and synergy.
- My way or the highway destroys long-term collaboration. Compromise is the pretense of collaboration. (For more about why compromise is an unsustainable problem-solving strategy, click here or go to www.TheNewIQ.com/compromise)
- In this age of Manufactured Consent always remember: When an “expert” (leader, pundit, authority, advertisement) adamantly insists that their position or solution is correct, and it is the complete opposite of what other “experts” adamantly insist, it means that all of them are asking the wrong question or attempting to manipulate for their own gain.
- The U.S. Constitution’s framers brought forth as brilliant a document as they did precisely because they utilized the principles of synergy-centered problem-solving, which enabled them to transform their passionate differences into fundamental principles that embodied far more wisdom than either compromise or coercion are capable of creating. Let us take a lesson from them!
The Three Elements of Informed Consent
- Unbiased information about the full range of options available to deal with an issue
- Unbiased information about the potential benefits, risks and expenses of each option
- Open-mindedness to explore other alternatives that have not yet come to light
These elements are completely incompatible with what is necessary to manufacture consent.
Synergy’s Three Central Skills
Synergy approaches problem-solving like assembling a jigsaw puzzle. Except you don’t know beforehand what the picture will look like when you’re done.
Synergy requires:
- Humility: When a group of people assemble a jigsaw puzzle, each person tends to focus on a different part of the puzzle. Humility means admitting that no one person or group can accurately grasp the big picture on their own. It means accepting that only when we join together to connect all the jigsaw pieces will the complete picture emerge for all to see.
- Clarifying Core Intentions: Discovering core intentions is like turning upside down jigsaw pieces right-side up. Core intentions are the deeper purposes and values beneath our positions. This requires looking beneath proposed solutions to find the intentions they obscure. This is the only way to discover what people really want. You have clarified someone’s core intention when you know what they most seek from the solution they proposed.
- Connecting the Dots Between Core Intentions: Connecting the dots means attaching all the jigsaw pieces to discover the picture they create. The jigsaw pieces are all the facts plus everyone’s core intentions. This reveals a complete and accurate picture. Only when this picture emerges can sustainable solutions be constructed. Sustainable solutions honor everyone’s core intentions. Honoring everyone’s intentions serves individuals and the common good. This is constitutional integrity in action.
CHANGING THE GAME: How to Take Your Problem-Solving Skills Back
(Or, how to help your clients/students take back their Problem-Solving Skills)
- Getting to Yes by William Ury, Roger Fisher & Bruce Patton
- Dr. Gruder’s NICE™ Boundaries Intelligence Workbook
- Utilize the self-help resource in the “Take Your Next Step” section below
► Media & Event Planners: Interview Dr. Gruder on This Topic or Invite Him to Present on It
► Go to “The Hijacking of You” Overview Page
Take Your Next Step
Sustainable problem-solving is a learnable skill. It is necessary for sustainable happiness, health, prosperity and patriotism.
This book has won six awards. In a more diverse range of categories than perhaps any other book in history:
- Current Events in Politics & Society
- Social Change
- Conscious Business & Leadership
- Health & Wellness
- Self-Help
- Meta-psychology.
This is why this is the book you have been waiting for. It is called “The New IQ: How Integrity Intelligence Serves You, Your Relationships & Our World.�? Its companion workbook guides you step-by-step in customizing what you learn so it works in your own life.
This material is your vaccine against being manipulated by the relentless “manufacturing of consent” machine. It does this by providing you with a complete blueprint for creating sustainable happiness, and making a positive difference in the world, without sacrificing your health or accumulating unsustainable debt.
The dawn of the second decade of the 21st century is your time to take back your power. Not only for your sake, but in the end for the sake of us all. This material is the most valuable gift you can give yourself and others to kick off the new decade.
Order copies now. For yourself. For your loved ones. For your employees, managers and executives. For your students, clients or customers. For your religious, community service, or nonprofit organizations. For your leaders.
| I want just the book | I want the book & workbook | I want everything you’ve got |
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Together we can take back our happiness, health, prosperity, patriotism and problem-solving from the manufacturers of consent. Here’s to your happiness, health and prosperity in the new decade!