It can mean a lot of things, but I have a few ideas: * Anyone who has worked with real data realizes that ambiguity is more the norm than not. F. Scott Fitzgerald, "The Crack-Up" (1936) US novelist (1896 - 1940) Notes about this Quotation. That feels very uncomfortable.In psychology, cognitive dissonance is the mental stress or discomfort experienced by an individual who holds two or more contradictory beliefs, ideas, or values at the same time, or is confronted by new information that conflicts with existing beliefs, ideas, or values.Leon Festinger’s theory of cognitive dissonance focuses on how humans strive for internal consistency. If genius is the ability to hold in the mind two mutually contradictory ideas without going crazy, then Americans have had a brilliant year. It doesn’t mean commit your future to the idea, but you consider it.It might be a worthy look into/ study – Kelly Leonard – “Yes And” Imagine if you both KNOW it is daytime and KNOW it is night-time, how then would you decide whether to go to sleep?The unpleasantness of cognitive dissonance exists for a very good reason. The “Tyranny of the OR” pushes people to believe that things must be either A OR B, but not both….Instead of being oppressed by the “Tyranny of the OR,” highly visionary companies liberate themselves with the “Genius of the AND”—the ability to embrace both extremes of a number of dimensions at the same time. Here is the scene below:This is a canonical example of “The Tyranny of the OR” — Either you are with me, or you are my enemy. Genius has been defined as the ability to hold two seemingly contradictory things in mind without becoming paralyzed. Knowing that they had lost, conservatives began bitterly dreaming of Clinton--and/or his wife--being frog-walked out of the White House by a special prosecutor in a year or two.A confusing moment. Rare? What happens to absolutes?Well, embracing “The Genius of the AND”, the right thing to say is “Absolutes have their place sometimes, AND they don’t have a place other times”.The universe does contain certain absolute principles. In fact this is the way most sports are designed; there are winners and losers.But it’s entirely possible for both India and Pakistan to win, if we change our dimension of thought. It is the same river, but yet it is not. When inconsistency (dissonance) is experienced, individuals tend to become psychologically uncomfortable and they are motivated to attempt to reduce this dissonance, as well as actively avoiding situations and information which are likely to increase it.We are wired to avoid internal inconsistency, or cognitive dissonance. That was a nice move I will admit that I only read the headline, but I wanted to add something – In many podcasts, leadership etc, there is a new interest in the art of improvisation – most commonly seen in the realm of comedy. By Shawn Powrie | March 22, 2015 Example 1: “If you’re not with me, then you are my enemy” — Anakin Skywalker from Star WarsExample 2: “Think Win-Win” from the 7 habits of highly effective peopleExample 4: A great sense of humour AND a great sense of solemnity We’ve consciously selected this symbol to represent a key aspect of highly visionary companies: They do not oppress themselves with what we call the “Tyranny of the OR”—the rational view that cannot easily accept paradox, that cannot live with two seemingly contradictory forces or ideas at the same time. What does this mean: "The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas and still "The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in the mind at the same time, and still retain the ability to function."