365QOD- Day718

   “Exploitation vs. exploration” – big difference

While reading a story in Fast Company about brain scans of entrepreneurs I came across these two words.   The story says that (I have changed the formatting in order to emphasize the ideas)

“Our brains have two basic problem-solving strategies.

Exploitation means taking advantage of what you already know, concentrating deeply on a current task to optimize performance and efficiency.

Exploration means taking a step back from the task at hand to allow your mind to roam flexibly among alternatives”

In order to be successful as an entrepreneur a person/team must be able to switch between these strategies.  According to the article:

“Leadership in the age of flux calls for "ambidextrous" minds that can switch back and forth between the two strategies”

In my opinion the switching between the two types of problem-solving strategies is vital.  The article states this as:

“Successful decision-making isn't necessarily about doing more exploration than exploitation. It's in the timing--knowing when to shift between the two forms of thinking”

Often times a person might start with exploitation and more to exploration to realize that there are more opportunities left in exploitation.  This back and forth might occur several times before a new innovating improvement is created.

Today’s question is:

“Have you ever used these two strategies in your problem solving?”

The article can be found at

http://www.fastcompany.com/3004746/mit-brain-scans-show-entrepreneurs-really-do-think-different