Nobel Laureate Daniel Kahneman makes the interesting observation that organizations unlike people have an opportunity to go slow and explore sometimes fatal decisions in judgement. We do not here presume to replicate here Dr. Kahneman’s important work, which is readily available in his scientific and popular writings. Five important Wisdom Practices for organizations are first to become aware of how biases and noise can distort critical decisions by becoming familiar with Kahneman’s and his colleagues’ work; and second, to conduct some form of Audit, as offered in Noise, on to what extent critical decisions before your organization are riddled with bias and noise; and third, once identified in the Audit(s), to consciously drop these biases, and if possible prune the decision(s) of noise. Fourth, based on this analysis, reframe the decision before; fifth, carry out the indicated action; and finally track and assess the results.
References
- Daniel Kahneman–Noise—A Flaw in Human Judgement (podcast)
- Daniel Kahneman–Noise—A Flaw in Human Judgement (with Simony and Susstein)
- Daniel Kahneman, Thinking Fast and Slow