Why you make bad decisions
I’ve often said that the people I most like to hang out with are those who make me think and make me laugh. (I’ll take either, but if I get both I’m engaged in both heart and head).
David Creelman gets two ticks on this particular scale – and I’ve really enjoyed his latest short article, which condenses Sydney Finkelstein’s work on bad decisions.
Part of the discipline of Great Work is, I think, the courage to make good decisions. And what can scupper Great Work, is poor decisions.
Finkelstein points to four fundamental dynamics that underlie bad decisions:
1. Inappropriate attachments
When you can’t let go of a belief, a position or a thing
2. Inappropriate self-interest
I’m putting me before anyone else
3. Misleading pre-judgements
Deep misreading of the situation
4. Misleading experiences
“Past performance is no promise of future performance…”
David’s article sets out some salutory stories connected to each of these ‘red flags’.
As you think about the decisions you’re making today, this week, this month … where might there be danger of you making a poor decision?
- Input & output – make better decisions on how you spend your time
- Making hard decisions
- Michael Mauboussin, Decision Making
- Who can you make look good today?
- What Martin Luther King Can Teach Us About Decision-Making
