Mackenzie Shults:

This world does not provide us with omnipresent decision-makers that have timely access to all relevant data points. This world, instead, provides us with imperfect and incomplete information, embedded in an system with conflicting preferences — your objectives, your organization, its environment, the wider world — where time scores high on the scarcity index.

An interesting article on the importance of naming ambiguity and uncertainty as part of decision-making processes in organisations.

James Whittaker describes the power of storytelling in a parable:

Our stories are our protection against everything that would harm us and a guide for all things that will make our lives better.

A couple of years old now, but worth sharing.

Via Kevin Bishop.

Nancy Dixon:

I read a New York Times article a few days ago praising the benefit of icebreakers, while acknowledging that they are embarrassing and we all groan when someone from the podium Crazy hands announces, in a cherry voice, “Get ready, because we’re going to do an icebreaker.”

Yes! Some great alternatives to icebreakers that build connections between members of a group. Perhaps not surprising, most of them involve stories.

Organisations hire smart people, but then positively encourage them not to use their intelligence. Asking difficult questions or thinking in greater depth is seen as a dangerous waste. Talented employees quickly learn to use their significant intellectual gifts only in the most narrow and myopic ways.

It’s a sad indictment on where our organisations are now. This essay is full of unbelievable anecdotes and spot-on observations. I can’t wait to read more in the book—The Stupidity Paradox—which I’ve just ordered.

Think of a situation where you had bulletproof facts, reason, and logic on your side, and believed there was absolutely no way the other person could say no to your perfectly constructed argument and proposal.

To do so would be impossible, you figured, because there was no other logical solution or answer.

And then the other person dug in his heels and refused to budge. He wasn’t swayed by your logic. Were you flabbergasted?

An interesting article about decision-making and research that confirms that decisions are emotional, not logical.

Via David Gurteen.