The Empty Cup Mindset

In the mid-19th century, a physician named Dr. Ignaz Semmelweis was working as an assistant in Vienna General Hospital when he noticed something curious.

The hospital had two maternity clinics right next to each other, one staffed by doctors and medical students, the other by midwives.

The mortality rate of mothers at the clinic staffed by doctors and medical students was a shocking (even for the era) 18%, while it was just 2% at the clinic staffed by midwives.

It occurred to Semmelweis that the doctors and medical students were often moving straight from working on cadavers to delivering babies.

Without washing their hands in between.

He mandated handwashing, and the rate immediately dropped to below 2%.

Rather than being hailed as a hero, he was ridiculed. Doctors rejected the evidence because it contradicted their deeply-entrenched beliefs.

On Friday, I explored why smart, accomplished people reject the very evidence that could help them—and the antidote: what I call the Empty Cup Mindset.

Ask yourself: What new evidence would cause me to change my mind?

If the answer is nothing, your cup is too full...

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