MYPRISM

Override Your Autopilot, Choose Mindful Leadership

Ideas for Leaders Publishing, 2023

15 min read

10 take-aways

Audio & text

What's inside?

Treat problem-solving as a prism treats light: break it down into its component parts.

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Editorial Rating

Qualities

Analytical
Applicable
Well Structured

Recommendation

The COVID-19 pandemic proved to be a true black swan event. No one saw it coming and initially, no one knew what to do about it. It devastated the globe, shut down economic activity, and caused the deaths of more than seven million people worldwide. MYPRISM’s six authors – Maribel Aleman, Douglas Choo, John Lazar, Beth Masterman, Fernando Morais, and Rolf Pfeiffer, all Fellows of the Institute of Coaching (IOC) at McLean, a Harvard Medical School Affiliate – banded together to combat COVID-19. That led them to develop MYPRISM, an approach to solving problems. The authors explain how the system works and how you can apply it to attack a problem the way a prism treats light: by breaking it into its component parts and addressing them methodically.

Summary

Generating strategies to address novel problems requires fresh thinking.

In COVID-19’s early days, Professor Carol Kauffman, founder of the Institute of Coaching (IOC), a Harvard Medical School affiliate, instituted virtual ”huddles” among IOC Fellows across the globe. Kauffman hoped to spur their most imaginative new thinking about the pandemic and, later, about other major emergencies and potential problems.

Co-authors and IOC Fellows Maribel Aleman, Douglas Choo, John Lazar, Beth Masterman, Fernando Morais, and Rolf Pfeiffer volunteered to work with Kauffman to create and sustain an intelligent, decision-making framework to apply to the pandemic and future crises. Together, the authors decided to call themselves “the Kantologos” (the “Song of Logic”). They hoped to move past conventional crisis management and switch off their tendencies toward autopilot thinking, which can beset any decision-maker. They found that “diversity in thought” translated to more enlightened outcomes.

COVID-19 inspired a conceptual approach to problem-solving.

Dealing with COVID-19 was ...

About the Authors

The authors are Fellows of the Institute of Coaching at McLean, a Harvard Medical School affiliate. Maribel Aleman is an executive coach at Aleman & Associates. Douglas Choo is a managing partner at VIEW Advisors. The late John Lazar was an executive coach at John B. Lazar Associates. Beth Masterman is an executive coach at Masterman Executive Coaching. Fernando Morais is managing partner at FMORAIS Associados. Rolf Pfeiffer is a managing partner at Schwarz & Pfeiffer Executive Advisory Partners.

Maribel Aleman, Douglas Choo, John Lazar, Beth Masterman, Fernando Morais and Rolf Pfeiffer