Do You Mull Enough?

“The success of an organization is largely a function of the thinking done within it.” – Howard Harmatz, MBA Professor

Recently while sitting in the capstone course of the MBA program, simply and aptly titled “Strategy," a friend and I reflected on the program and its impact on our lives. Both of us agreed that the greatest value has been how it has challenged, expanded and improved our quality of thinking. And like a true academic, I began thinking about thinking.

Coming from a creative industry focused on consumer behavior, I’ve taken it upon myself to document transformative moments in the MBA program as a kind of personal social experiment. It was in one particular class that I noticed one of these moments.

We had been asked to come up with a viable solution to Winnipeg’s top infrastructure problem within an hour, working in teams of four. We had to present on our findings at the end of the hour. The teams got to work immediately; the engineers pulled out whiteboards and drew charts, and the marketers began research on consumer complaints in the city. After an hour of hunched shoulders and furrowed brows, we re-entered the classroom ready to present our solutions with confidence. Our professor looked at us, laughed and said, “Sorry guys, but this was a test. You can’t solve Winnipeg’s infrastructure problem in one hour. And you know that. And yet you all tried, because you were under a deadline, you assumed you were competing, and I told you to. This is a major problem in business, so I want you to remember it. If you truly want to solve a complex issue, you have to chill out, tune in and think." 

We shared a defeated sigh, and realized he was right. Why had none of us questioned his request?

When you give yourself time to think (without the immediate pressure of deadlines, client proposals or impending doom) it acts like tea: your ideas are deeper, richer and full of flavor.

I like to call it "mulling" because it makes me smile and think of an old man with a pipe. Who may or may not be Gandalf. Creatives (artists, painters, writers, Amy Poehler) describe this as “waiting for the muse." My friend working on a documentary said he typed up the script in half an hour, but he had been thinking about the script for a year. A YEAR. Do we think about anything in business for that long? And as such, how good are our ideas, really?

The dictionary definition of “mulling" is thinking about a fact, proposal or request deeply and at length. However a more accurate definition may stem the word’s origins, thought to come from the Middle English mullyn, which means to "grind to powder and/or pulverize." To think and think and think until you sort of give up on finding the solution, and sink into the comfort of staring at a big, ugly, complex problem. The system. 

I believe mulling is evidence of systems thinking, and we need to do it more.

Systems thinking is the attempt to understand how interconnected parts of one system create its results. You hear the term all the time: "How are we going to fix the healthcare system?” or "What’s wrong with our education system?" Systems are everywhere; they're complex and full of interconnected units. And of course, the problems within the system are deeply buried within this interconnectivity. 

So if we, as business leaders, are attempting to solve these systems-related problems, why don’t we take a systems approach to our thinking?

I once sat in a Starbucks for three straight days (Yes. Three. Straight. Days.) waiting for an idea to use for a nationwide advertising competition. I had entered the competition late so my idea was due in less than a week. Rather than panicking and pushing out every idea that came to mind, I read the brief about 10 times, did a bit of research, closed my laptop and waited, pen and paper in hand.

I let my mind wander. I let it relax, and since I had no real distractions it remained focused on the problem (and not Instagram). After the second day my sister asked, “What did you come up with?” and I said, “Nothing yet.” She looked slightly terrified and reminded me of the impending deadline. Because I believed in the mulling (Believe in the Mulling, title of my next book?), I calmly asserted, “The idea will show up. It always does." And it did. That idea made U of M history, reaching Top 25 against 3,000 students across Canada.

It’s also known as the “Eureka” effect – when a solution just appears to a previously incomprehensible problem. We don’t know how or why it happens, but given enough time the mind begins to unlock.  Doesn’t it make you curious about how many other solutions are sitting in our minds, waiting to be unlocked? I don’t think it’s a coincidence that some of the greatest scientific discoveries occurred when the inventor was sitting in a tub or under a tree.

Science knows all about mulling, and I think it’s time business does too.

It’s why in advertising we provide the creative brief days before the brainstorm, because the ideas steep in your subconscious and make the actual brainstorm way tastier. It’s no surprise some of the best ideas come to us in the shower, in airplanes or as we are about to fall asleep. Here’s my takeaway (after much mulling, I assure you):  No matter your industry or position, our ability to do good work relies on our ability to think of good ideas. Ways to solve problems.

So give yourself time to think deeply and enjoyably.

William Wordsworth said it well, “Poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings: it takes its origin from emotion recollected in tranquility.”  

So let me ask one more time. Do you mull enough?