In this second installment of thoughts on decision making in uncertainty, I’m turning my attention from the quantity of information that shapes our decisions to its quality.
How do we build confidence in the validity and relevance of the information we’re taking into account?
For this, I can offer a book, two habits and a fun idea. All are based on my premise that multiple perspectives are protective.
The book:
Timothy Caulfield’s The Certainty Illusion is worth a look. It will admittedly not make you feel better about the trustworthiness of data sources, but it is an excellent reminder to be on the alert for the ways institutions, advertisements and algorithms shape (and often narrow) what we think of as “good information.”
The habits:
- Default to collaboration. Each of us only ever has part of a story. Inviting others into our decision-making processes helps reduce blindspots.
- Be explicit about what makes a good decision good. By co-creating your criteria, out loud with others, you are more likely to loosen your grip on a pre-determined outcome and will take more diverse considerations into account.
The fun idea:
Expose yourself to diverse ways of being in the world. Reading and travel are obvious ways to do that. I happen to love exploring events that offer a high concentration of varied people and ideas. I wrote about it recently, and am happy to report that my application to the DO Lectures 2027 in Wales was successful! For sure it was because of this doodle of myself.
