We’re all biased, so biased that we love to hang out with people who think like us, read stuff that we agree with and do stuff we like to do. It’s all good and well, but what we get in enjoyment we lose in perspective; because that one perspective that we hold isn’t the complete picture of life.
This is a guest post by Francisco Ramirez, CEO of The ACE Group; a customs broker, warehouse operator and ecommerce fulfillment provider that helps merchants reduce their fulfillment costs. This post was originally published on their blog.
Quick, think about the best decision you made this year. Got it? Ok. How did that decision turn out? If you’re like most people, you picked a decision that ended well. Why? Because we tend to judge choices based on outcomes. But this is a problem, and doesn’t lead to better decisions in the long run.
One of the greatest abilities every one should develop is to change one’s mind when they are wrong; this is called intellectual humility. And it is rare. It doesn’t come easy for any of us to accept we’re wrong.
Why do organizations fail? There are many reasons, mostly because they become irrelevant by failing to evolve and adapt to a changing world. The reasons this happens are many, but one thing is certain: organizations where everyone agrees with each other, where no friction exists, and where no one challenges the status-quo is certain to miss the future and eventually fail.
I’m very instinctive, have avoided many problems when I’ve followed my gut; and gotten into unnecessary ones when I’ve ignored it. Sound familiar? All of us make intuitive-based decisions, and most of the time our intuition is wrong. Why? In short because life is messy, there’s no way around it, and previous success makes us overconfident in our abilities.
At both of my ventures, Better and Netek, we operate by many key principles, one of them is avoiding stupidity; which is to avoid bad decisions. So instead of asking ourselves,”how do we make good decisions?; we ask: how do we avoid making bad ones?
If you’ve been following me for a long time you know I have a very Hungry Mind. On top of magazines, articles and reports, I read at least 1 book per month; and have gone up to 4 in years past. This year I read 15 books in all, lighter than before but interesting nonetheless.
