This is for the good people of Yayasan Sabah who made my program for them on 20th September a great success. The following is the answer to the mind-teaser as given by the creator of the test, Peter Watson and as presented by Roger Dawson:
"Only 4 percent of the people he tested got it right. Obviously,you turn the A over to be sure it has an even number on the other side. But most people select the 4 as the other card,to be sure it has a vowel on the other side. And that's the wrong answer! The right is the 7, to be sure it doesn't have a vovel on the other side.
The interesting thing about that is, not only did 96 percent of the people get it wrong, but it's almost impossible to understand why you shoud turn over the 7, and not the 4. Let's say that the second card you turn over is the 4, and it does have a vowel on the other side. So far so good: but you are still left with the possibility that the 7 has a vowel on the other side. That would dispute the supposition that any card with a vowel on one side has an even number on the other.So you can't prove the supposition that way because you have already turned over two cards, the A and 4.
So you should turn over the A and the 7. If the A has an even number on the other side and the 7 doesn't have a vowel, you have proven the supposition. But how do you know the 4 has a vowel on the other side? It doesn't matter whether it has a vowel or consonant. Your challenge was to prove that if a card has a vowel on one side, it has an even number on the other. If the 4 has a vowel on the other side, fine. If it has a consonant on the other side, it's not relevant to the supposition!
As I mentioned in the program, many managers and leaders find it difficult to solve problems and conflicts at the work-place because often times they mis-state the problem or in other words the problem or conflict is wrongly defined. A wrong definition will lead to a wrong problem-solving parameters. More importantly, there are always more than one way of looking at things.
My sincere best wishes to all of you at Yayasan Sabah Group.
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