logic was useful. It helped me get through Harvard Business
School, which reinforced it. Most of what I’ve done in business
is to look at something and say, ‘That’s the way to go.’ Then I
pull myself back and subject it to a very rigorous logic. I’m
much more inclined to emotionally arrive at a decision than I
am to use logical resources, and the blend has caused me to be
reflective. Also, I’ve always felt that society lacks philosophers.
We ought to have people who dedicate their lives just to think-
ing. We have plenty of economists, and we have all the sciences
covered, but only a handful of thinkers. So maybe that makes
me reflective. But I think of myself as an activist.”
In fact, what we do is a direct result of not only what and
how we think, but what and how we feel as well. Roger Gould
agreed: “It’s how you feel about things that dictates how you
behave. Most people don’t process their feelings, because
thinking is hard work. And abstract thinking doesn’t usually
lead to a change in behavior. It leads to conflict about change. I
use two analytic skills in everything. One is perspective—I al-
ways like multiple frames of reference. And I always look for
the heart of the issue, the core.”
Reflection may be the pivotal way we learn. Consider some
of the ways of reflecting: looking back, thinking back, dreaming,
journaling, talking it out, watching last week’s game, asking for
critiques, going on retreats—even telling jokes. Jokes are a way
of making whatever-it-was understandable and acceptable.
Freud said that the goal of analysis is to make the uncon-
scious conscious. He talks about the importance of anniver-
saries, for example—the number of men who die on the same
day their fathers died. The anniversary had remained trapped in
the unconscious, never reflected on. The wound experienced on
the day had never been given air and allowed to heal. Reflection
Deploying Yourself: Strike Hard, Try Everything