Reflection Is Important for Solving Business Problems

When we say “reflection,” what comes to mind? Is it sitting in meditation, in a meadow or a sacred space?. Or is it sitting at your desk, taking a second to look back at your life or career? Either way, its something that no one has time for these days, right?

Joseph Badarocco is the John Shad Professor of Business Ethics at Harvard Business School. He has taught courses on business ethics, strategy, and management in the School's MBA and executive programs. He is also the faculty chair of the Nomura School of Advanced Management in Tokyo.

Joseph’s current research focuses on what counts as sound reflection for busy men and women who have serious responsibilities and face hard, practical problems. His books include Step Back, Defining Moments: When Managers Must Choose between Right and Right, and Leading Quietly: An Unorthodox Guide to Doing the Right Thing.

Greg and Joe talk about cultivating character in leaders, what counts as reflection, different kinds of attentional states, and having multiple role models.

Episode Quotes:

How people react to talking about “reflection”

I ultimately interviewed about a hundred people, managers at all levels of organizations, some of them twice, it was about 150 interviews. And asked them, what do you think reflection is? And do you do it? And if so, when and how? An interesting reaction I got from a lot of them initially was along the lines of what you just said. They said, I'm sorry, but I'm really the wrong person. I don't have any time to reflect. I said, well, let's just talk a little bit further. And what became clear to me after a while was they had a image of reflection, which is a sort of a quiet, solitary, go up to the mountain sort of experience. 

The everyday work of managers

I think we often demean the everyday work of managers and a lot of other people by saying what really matters in a company is what we're doing in our communities, the breakthrough technologies. Those things of course are important. But what you do day by day, building a stronger company, stronger organization, good jobs for people developing their skills, pride in working together and accomplishing something. You're never going to be on the cover of a business magazine, ( not that they exist anymore), but it still matters. 

Reflection isn't always done alone

Another thing that a lot of people mentioned to me, these are very busy people, is it for them reflection wasn't solitary. So going up to the mountain is, thats a solitary image. But there were a couple people, either in their lives or often people at work, that they talked with fairly often, sometimes just briefly, but the sort of tone of the conversation was different. They were revealing a little more of what was on their minds.

Show Links:

Guest Profile:

• Faculty Profile at Harvard Business School
• Professional Profile at Keynotes.org
• Joseph Badarocco on LinkedIn

His Work:

• Joseph Badarocco in Harvard Business Review
• Step Back: Bringing the Art of Reflection into Your Busy Life 
• Questions of Character​: Illuminating the Heart of Leadership Through Literature
• Defining Moments: When Managers Must Choose Between Right and Right 
• Managing in the Gray: Five Timeless Questions for Resolving Your Toughest Problems at Work
• The Good Struggle: Responsible Leadership in an Unforgiving World 
• Leading Quietly: An Unorthodox Guide to Doing the Right Thing

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