When making your decision, it is important to remember that we all have hidden biases that can impact the input we receive. Decisions at the information and knowledge level, or System Two thinking, offer a higher degree of Knowledge is information that has been refined by analysis and has been assimilated, tested and/or validated.ĭecisions made at the gut or data level, aka System One thinking, can be made quickly but offer a higher level of risk.Information is a more evolved or complete form of data where context and meaning have been added to the data.Making decisions on raw data can lead to flawed decisions based on incomplete data sets. Data comprise disparate facts, statistics and random inputs.Gut instincts are experiential and/or emotional and may have no underpinning of hard analytical support.Outside InfluencesĪccording to Myatt, “The first key in understanding how to make great decisions is learning how to synthesize the overwhelming amount of incoming information leaders must deal with on a daily basis…become discerning surrounding the filtering of various inputs.” There is a hierarchy of knowledge that must be understood. For example, System One may say, “Let’s go on vacation,” but we can’t go until System Two makes the plans. System One may generate a complex thought pattern but needs System Two to put those thoughts into an orderly series of steps. The two systems work together very efficiently with minimum effort and optimal performance. It’s not something that comes naturally but rather requires exertion on our part. System One thinking makes decisions quickly and is critical to survival. It operates automatically with little to no sense of control. System One is often referred to as our intuition or gut feeling. According to Daniel Kahneman in Thinking, Fast and Slow, our brains have two agents (no they don’t sell insurance) called System One and System Two. To help us make better decisions, it’s important to understand how our thought process works. In this column, we’ll explore (1) what is going on inside your head that impacts your ability to make good decisions, (2) what outside influences are impacting your decisions, (3) some techniques to help you deal with both internal and external influences, and (4) a decision-making framework that can help you make the soundest decisions possible. “…nyone who operates outside of a sound decision making framework will eventually fall prey to an act of oversight, misinformation, misunderstanding, manipulation, impulsivity or other negative influencing factors,” writes Mike Myatt in a Forbes article titled “6 Tips for Making Better Decisions.” However, the complexity of today’s business landscape, coupled with the increasingly high expectations of performance and the speed with which most decisions must be made, creates a recipe for disaster for today’s business leaders. Making sound decisions is a skill set that can be developed and is essential for any good leader. So I did a little research on the art of decision making, and I thought I would share with you what I learned. It got me thinking that (1) the universe is trying to tell me something and (2) maybe I really need to pay attention to the decisions I am making. Wow, that’s pretty intense, right? Well, three times this week, in three completely different circumstances, I heard that quote.
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