1) Stretch
your mind, reach beyond your preconceptions; learn
to think of things in ways you have never thought before.
2) Acquire tools with which to critically
examine and evaluate new ideas, including your
own cherished ones.
3) Settle eventually on a framework or set
of frameworks that organize what you know and believe
and that guide your life as an individual and a leader.
2) But never
get so comfortable as to believe that your frameworks
are the final word, recognizing the strong psychological
tendencies that favor sticking to your worldview. Learn
to keep stretching your mind, keep stepping outside
your comfort zone, keep venturing beyond the familiar,
keep trying to put yourself in the shoes of others
whose frameworks or cultures are alien to you, and
have an open mind to different ways of parsing the
world. Before you critique a new idea, or another culture,
master it to the point at which its proponents or members
recognize that you get it.
clipped from: www.edge.org