Don't Be Sherlock. Be Dr. Bell

Dr. Joseph Bell was a prominent surgeon and forensic science lecturer at the University of Edinburgh in the 19th century. He was so popular that students from all over the United Kingdom would flock to the medical school to hear him speak.

Dr. Bell had an uncanny ability to deduce specific information about his patients before they even opened their mouths. It was said that simply by watching how someone walked or comported him or herself, he could determine their occupation.

One of his students, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, would go on to write books about this fantastic doctor who used deductive reasoning to assist the police in cracking high-profile crimes, like Jack the Ripper. In his first book, Doyle named the Dr. Bell character Sherlock Holmes and gave him all of Dr. Bell’s other hobbies, from bird watching to poetry. He would later acknowledge that the doctor was, in fact, the genesis for Holmes. 

What two traits could we incorporate from Dr. Holmes’ intuitive skills into our overall decision-making methods? 

1. Look for differences in situations, not similarities. We might be basing our conclusions off of an isolated incident — an anomaly of sorts. This then sets off a chain of misinformed decisions that can then spiral. Don’t think A to B to C. Start with D and follow where it might lead. The easiest explanation, often times, is incorrect or not the entire story. Be cognizant of this.  

2. Strip away all things that don’t matter and cut down to the core issue (singular). Be careful of involving too many people in the decision-making process. You must be able to deeply understand the real problem yourself, not outsiders’ perception of it. We live in a world where every critic has a simple fix to a complicated issue. If we let outside forces cloud our judgments, we lose sight of the main problem and thus our control of the situation.   

As you approach the day, make sure you are making your conclusions like Dr. Bell did — based on data and observation, not on implicit biases. Remember, there is nothing wrong with pausing to re-evaluate a situation.

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