Two Heads Are Better Than One
I’ve never heard anyone describe C.S. Lewis as a teacher of leadership, but in the exhaustive study I am doing of him and all his writings I continually find nuggets that are quite genius and related to leadership in some way. Here is one such nugget I found this morning as I finished reading A Mind Awake: An Anthology of C. S. Lewis:
“People were no cleverer then than they are now; they made as many mistakes as we. But not the same mistakes. . . . Two heads are better than one, not because either is infallible, but because they are unlikely to go wrong in the same direction” (p. 290).
C. S. Lewis, reprinted from Introduction to St Athanasius’s The Incarnation of the Word of God in A Mind Awake
I believe we can break this statement down into two parts. Let’s first examine, “People were no cleverer then than they are now; they made as many mistakes as we. But not the same mistakes. . . .” When C.S. Lewis made this statement, he meant throughout history and across different time periods, humans have always possessed the same level of intelligence and made similar numbers of mistakes. However, the nature of these mistakes may differ. Lewis was highlighting the idea that while humans may make different types of mistakes in different eras, the fundamental capacity for error remains constant. This perspective suggests that we can learn from the mistakes of the past and strive to avoid repeating them in the present and future.
Now let’s examine the last part of the statement, “Two heads are than one, not because either is infallible, but because they are unlikely to wrong in the same direction.” Here, Lewis was emphasizing the value of collaboration and different perspectives. He believed that when multiple individuals come together to solve a problem or make a decision, their collective knowledge and diverse viewpoints can help to minimize errors and ensure a more balanced outcome. Rather than relying solely on one person’s judgment, having multiple perspectives can lead to a more comprehensive understanding and contribute to better decision-making overall.
Notice Lewis was promoting ‘collaboration’ long before it was a cool leadership buzz word. Of course, now we realize just how important collaboration is and how important relationships are to successful collaborations. I just blogged about that is Relationships Determine The Creative Outcome.
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