We have a deeply ambivalent relationship with uncertainty. In part, we are hard-wired to like clarity, and black-and-white world-views are as tempting as they are dangerous. So when we are faced with situations where there are no clear answers or easy choices, we find ourselves squirming in acute discomfort.
Our Strange Craving For Rationality
It’s always fun to talk about decision making. It’s interesting to delineate between the theory of rational choice and the reality of behavioural deciding. But it’s surprising how enduring rational preferences are.
Choices, Credibility & Cans
I shared a copy of my new book with a colleague and good friend of mine. This is always an interesting and anxiety-producing exercise—one of the fundamental principles of writing is that once you release it into the world, it is no longer yours.
Project Manager Wanted…
I have long believed that project management is a generalist skill more than it is a specialist one. In other words, project management is a way of thinking and doing that is applicable broadly, and it is expertise in the process—rather than the subject of the project—that is most important.
Do They Like Me? Huh? Huh? Do They?
Decision making is a complicated endeavour. It basically involves trying to divine the future, and make a call on what the best strategy based upon uncertain outcomes. That’s never easy, particularly when we want to make the right decision. The one that will play out the way that we want it to. Short of a […]
Indecisive? There’s An App For That
As most readers know (or have no doubt deduced by now), I have a professional interest in how we make decisions. So if the Globe & Mail is going to publish an article with the headline “Choices got you down? Leave it to an app (and strangers) to decide for you,” I’m probably going to […]