This episode discusses Decision Making and Creativity.
You can and will use creativity in decision making, and you will make decisions in your creative pursuits, and depending how you look at it, creativity and decision making look a lot alike.
This episode discusses:
- A definition for the term “decision”
- Intuition, judgment, and emotions
- Interpersonal intelligence and courage in decision making
- Intuitive Decision Making
- A Rational Decision Making Process
- Considerations of who is involved in implementing a decision and who is involved in making a decision
- How to maximize creativity in decision making
- The Wisdom of the Crowd
References used in the episode:
- The Managerial Decision-making Process, by E. Frank Harrison, for many topics on Decision Making, including the definition of the term Decision and the rational decision making process described in the episode. Jung’s and Freud’s perspectives on intuition are also discussed here (pages 203 and 204).
- Primal Leadership – Realizing The Power Of Emotional Intelligence, by Daniel Goleman, Richard Boyatzis, and Annie McKee, for their discussion of intution.
- Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking, by Malcolm Gladwell, for a discussion on the fallibility on intuition. He refers to this as the Warren Harding Error.
- Inc Magazine article on the Wisdom Of The Crowd.
- Wikipedia topic on the Wisdom Of The Crowd.
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11:40 am on April 26th, 2009 1
Following up on the “wisdom of the crowd,” there’s an interesting article in the 4/25/2009 Wall Street Journal, “How Group Decisions End Up Wrong-Footed”, http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124061065847354263.html.
Robert Sutton, an organizational psychologist, is quoted: “The best groups will be better than their best individual members, and the worst groups will be worse than the worst individual.”
Another psychologist, Richard Larrick, is quoted as saying that a well-functioning group will have people with “differing perspectives and experiences who are unafraid to speak their minds.”
3:57 pm on May 12th, 2009 2
Here’s an interesting article in the May 2009 issue of Inc Magazine, “Why Gray Matter Matters: Inside the entrepreneur’s brain”, http://www.inc.com/magazine/20090501/charles-jacobs-goes-inside-the-entrepreneurs-brain.html.
Discusses how emotions are related to decision making.
10:17 am on June 8th, 2009 3
Interesting WSJ article on brain research in decision making on crime: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123205921925787437.html.
3:53 pm on April 18th, 2010 4
Here’s a May 2009 Inc Magazine article on an interview with Charles Jacobs, author of Management Rewired: Why Feedback Doesn’t Work and Other Surprising Lessons From the Latest Brain Science”: http://www.inc.com/magazine/20090501/charles-jacobs-goes-inside-the-entrepreneurs-brain.html.
Some interesting quotes:
“Objective decision making is a myth. When the area of the brain responsible for logical thinking is activated, it also receives input from the area responsible for emotion. Without input from your feelings, you can’t think long term.”
“If you are totally consumed by what you do, you begin to tell yourself a story: ‘This is who I am. This is my life.’ You’ve built this big neural network that drives decisions supportive of that. If, instead, you think logically — this is just a job — there’s no context to drive decision making. So your decisions may go against what you really believe.”
“Recently, we’ve learned a lot about mirror neurons. If I observe you doing an action, the neurons in my brain responsible for that action will fire. So do neurons in the area that indicates intent. I’m not only mirroring your action in my brain; I’m also mirroring the reason for your action. The best thing a leader can do is set an example. Entrepreneurs are really jazzed by what they do. All they have to do is be who they are.”
11:19 am on May 12th, 2010 5
[...] blog entry can be thought of as a continuation of Episode 4: Decision Making and Creativity. As I’ve written recently, I’m reading Management Rewired, by Charles S. Jacobs, which [...]