Strategies and tactics for making better decisions
Is there any financial decision that we dread more than the annual chore of choosing a health insurance plan? It’s got everything we hate: choice and information overload, time pressure, ambiguity and confusion, consequences worth thousands, uncomfortable scenarios involving disease and injury, inscrutable jargon coming at a time of the year full of other business, … Read more
Is that website or app, in which you’re pouring personal information, time, money and trust, ethical? Learn how to systematically evaluate the ethical status of any website (or business).
What happens when you invite 50 behavioral scientists and interested citizens to address one of the country’s biggest environmental challenges? On October 24, 2018, we took on the NYC Stormwater Design Challenge, hosted by The Nature Conservancy,s in New York City. The Nature Conservancy, Decision Fish, Clicksuasion Labs, participants from the ideas42 2018 Behavioral Summit … Read more
Alternative facts and sloppy thinking. Either one can hijack our efforts to learn the truth and make quality decisions. Increasing political polarization, inequality and mistrust make it harder to reach consensus in politics, business, and society. This can slow human progress and result in catastrophic mistakes. A clear understanding of, and greater emphasis on, the … Read more
“Do you know what you want?” Those six, dreaded words haunt my otherwise happy memory of a meal my friends and I enjoyed to celebrate graduating from university. It seemed such an important occasion: I wanted to get my menu selection exactly right. You can imagine the groans around the table after the third or fourth postponement … Read more
As we explored in my last article about Victor, the appliance repairman, trust is increasingly necessary and valuable in modern life. At the same time, trust is getting scarcer as well-publicized betrayals in business and government add up. What is Trust? But what is trust? The dictionary defines trust as the “Firm reliance on the integrity, ability, or character of a person or thing.” … Read more
The other day, I invited a total stranger with a Ukrainian accent, “Victor,” whom I found on the Internet, to come into my house. Within 24 hours of my call, he was in my kitchen, fixing two appliances. I paid him $550 by personal check. Why did this work so well?An underlying level of trust in … Read more
We were delighted to have Michelle Gilmore, Design Director and Founder of design firm Neo, speak at a recent Behavioral Economics-NYC meetup about her cutting-edge work in the design of products, services and systems. Her presentation led to a lot of interest and discussion among those who were there and particularly among those who missed out. … Read more
Failure, much more than success, helps us grow professionally and personally. And yet, it’s so hard to account for our failures. We prefer to think of ourselves as competent, effective people (see cognitive dissonance). And it’s embarrassing to share those failings because it’s counter to social norms. However, a frank appreciation of one’s shortcomings is necessary … Read more
Can we build better decision making skills using video simulations? What are some of the biases and challenges facing managers who want to make the best decisions? What’s the proper role of intuition/hunches and deliberation/analysis for managerial decision making? How do you build resilience when any decision is likely to make at least some people irate?! Get answers from Ken Spero, CEO of Ed Leadership Sims in our video interview.