XI. Some Helpful Mnemonics

    This outward behavior (mentioned in the previous paragraph, on the previous page) quite obviously we call verification. Verification is a bona fide manifestation of an individual’s true CARE and CONCERN. Like the good scientist, mathematician or engineer checking, double-checking, even triple-checking all of his or her calculations to guard against possible oversight, the professional decision-maker checks, double-checks and even triple-checks all of his or her planning and preparation in advance so as to guard against the same. Nothing may become overlooked or unprepared for. The final decision must be robust! It must thoroughly address ALL possibilities, and we must always try our best at verifying this to be so before executing a final decision!

    Concisely put, professional decision-making revolves completely around one little word ... details! Professional minds are necessarily and perpetually engrossed by them ... ALL! Know-how is nothing if we aren’t prepared for ALL possibilities — past, present and future — far-r-r-r in advance. We not only must know where matters are headed but also where they may have been! We must take the time and exert the required mental effort needed not only to recognize future possibilities before they become actual occurrences, but also before responding in a way that maybe might exacerbate some past problem(s) still festering and waiting to "boil over"! We must imagine and prepare for them ALL. Leading is preparation, above all other characteristics!

A. I-V

    The implications of course are two-pronged (I-V). We won't be aware of ALL the details — past, present and future — surrounding a particular circumstance if we don’t take the time to not only

• Imagine and search for them ALL, but also
• Verify, to check to make sure that indeed we have prepared ourselves for e-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g!

    We must necessarily verify that all our attempts at imagining alternate possibilities and efforts at advance preparation are indeed as robust as we would like them to be!

B. V-CAP

    For every new situation then we must necessarily recognize ALL the past possibilities possibly underlying it, the present possibilities perhaps maintaining (or maybe even concealing) it and the future possibilities and subsequent outcomes for any chosen solution. Not only must we necessarily recognize them but also prepare for them. And we must verify that we get this done Right:

These are the guiding principals propelling our leader’s mind. These qualities are a direct consequence of his or her compassion and concern to get the job done Right … to protect and prevent, to prepare and plan ahead and safely follow through. A clever mnemonic for remembering these important guiding principals (V-CAP) is conveniently expressed in the following diagram.

    Imagining all the past causative possibilities will keep you from “jumping to the wrong conclusions”: How matters may seem doesn’t always conform to how they actually are! Then taking the time now to thoroughly analyze the situation before responding may perhaps expose certain hidden variables that you may at present be overlooking. “Curiosity may have killed the cat,” but for you, an intelligent decision-maker, the exact opposite could very well ensue! Next, exerting all the required mental/physical efforts that may be required to prepare for all future potential outcomes and/or criticisms will keep you safe and “on guard”: Better to be safe and alert than asleep and sorry! And finally, to double-check, verification helps you avoid the possibility of something having been overlooked.

C. V-I-P

    Bear in mind that no two professional minds are entirely alike. Though they may have similar knowledge, any two professionals will always differ somehow in their own personal experiences, training and preferences. Where one professional prefers to do matters in one way, another professional may prefer to do them in another. There isn’t necessarily one best way for getting things done at times. At times some errors may be avoided most effectively when a problem is solved in one way, while other times other errors may perhaps be more readily exposed by doing things in another. Professional decision-making is no different, because in no single manner may we humans consistently avoid ALL potential for human blunder ALL the time. We need different paradigms — different methods, means and manners — for doing things so that we may more readily adapt to differing situations.

    Alternately then another good mnemonic to keep in mind is V-I-P:

    VIP of course is already a popularly accepted acronym for “Very Important Person.” Because of this, and because it just happens to rhyme with RIP, “Rest In Peace,” some of us find it an easier mnemonic to remember than V-CAP.

XII. To Summarize Briefly once again...

    The entire gamut of details that could potentially enter and influence the final outcome to your own particular situation are your friends. They are there, waiting to be put to good use and work for you, but you have to find them first! They don’t always jump up at you and say, “Hey, what about me?”! You’ll need to get yourself to work, to imagine and search for and find them before you may mentally juggle them all about and strategically plan how to best utilize and/or navigate around each individual effect ... comprehensively. Overview is your ultimate goal, and utter ignorance is where we all start!

    Otherwise, if you don’t exert all the required effort aimed at achieving overview, that is, comprehensive preparation and verification aimed at

• searching for and imagining all the potential causes and consequences that may bear some weighty significance on your own particular situation and
• double-checking / triple-checking that you are indeed ready to confront them all head on,

matters may very well turn against you, perhaps resulting in some catastrophic or devastating scenario you hadn’t quite initially anticipated. That witty phrase, “The best never rest,” certainly here applicably holds true.

    Realize that most of the details surrounding your own particular predicament usually may be readily recognized or imagined ahead of time. But some may not! You’ll need to brainstorm and analyze matters a bit so as to recognize what you are overlooking! Even upon brainstorming and analyzing matters further, however, some details may again rest stubbornly concealed from view, and you may need even to engage in some rather intricate, intensive and protracted (possibly rather expensive) research to root them out. Or you may need to simply “try things out,” a test run perhaps, to recognize more readily what precisely you are overlooking. Because you're only human, on the very first try, you'll likely-gonna' overluuk sometin'!

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