All tagged Decision making
At the end of season 2 of the HBO series, Succession, one of the show’s main characters, Tom, tells his wife, Shiv, something I found to be especially poignant:
“I wonder if the sad I’d be without you, would be less than the sad I’d get from being with you.”
When the going’s good, it’s tempting to want more.
Our stock picks are at all time highs, so surely they’ll keep going higher…
Or sales are booming, and in that euphoria, it’s tempting to prioritize revenue growth over profitability or innovation.
When we’re deciding what’s important, we need to be thoughtful about the voices we’re listening to - specifically that they’re worth listening to.
Twitter is probably the most prominent example today. While there are about 450 million users on the platform, about 10% of that user base contributes 80% of the tweets.
In today's episode, I talk about how we make so many key decisions in our lives, not based on what we want, but on what others will think about them.
From the professional to the personal, we put credence where it doesn't belong, as compensating mechanisms, when really, at the end of the day, it's all down to us. We are responsible - no matter what.
When markets are at an all time low and everyone else is selling, there are the brave few who wade right into the thick of things and start buying.
They do this despite the ‘evidence’ to the contrary, because they’ve done their homework, formed an educated point of view and are willing to bet on their own logic (versus the consensus view).
Today's episode recounts a decision I made many years ago that, in the grand scheme of things, was relatively minor. It was my decision to get - and then remove - my earring before I went to Business School.
Not a huge decision in most contexts, but it was definitely one that taught me about why we make the choices we make - and WHY we should make the choices we make.
NOTE: There are no spoilers in this post, but if you’re someone who wants to know nothing about ‘Squid Game’ before you watch it, save this post for later...
In the blockbuster Netflix show, Squid Game, 456 contestants are pitted against each other (unwittingly, at first) in what is essentially a death match to see who will claim the $38 million grand prize.
So, is that your analysis? Or is that your opinion?
We’ve entered an age when we seem to have conflated the two together. This is most evident in the mainstream media - where you’re either Left or Right, wrong or right, up or down, etc. But it’s not just the mainstream media, it’s as true in so much of our professional and personal lives as well.
This is how we need to be. This is how we need to think. This is how we need to act.
The point of a brand is, in one way or another, to tug on our heartstrings.
It doesn’t matter if it’s a consumer brand, or a B2B brand, the goal is entirely the same: to establish a preference that has, as its basis, criteria well beyond the rational.
This month's podcasts focus on war stories, recounting situations and experiences that were unique, intriguing and (always) educational.
In today's episode, I share a story from my early days in Management Consulting and specifically about working with a partner who, seemingly, liked to talk in riddles. There was, of course, a method to his madness, as I discuss on the show.
Episode 16 of the podcast is now available and this episode continues this month's conversation around aspirations, a subject that's not only topical for this time of year but also central to our ability to achieve and become who we want to be.
The thing about giving advice is that it’s super easy to do at a distance. You can look at the options in a cold and calculated fashion, weigh up the pros and cons, and make definite judgements about the right path forward.
We see this firsthand in any education forum - specifically, business schools like those I studied at - where the case method is utilized. You study a specific situation, whether it’s related to people, strategy, operations, etc. You analyze the variables based on the information available. And then you make a logical, rational decision on what it takes to solve the specific problem at hand. Easy stuff.
When we’re evaluating options that involve other people’s decisions, for example, a competitor’s next move or an employee’s decision to stay or leave, we can either guess or we can anticipate.
There’s a big difference between the two.
