The hidden cost of taking the cowardly option

This article argues that many businesses are losing out due to defensive decision-making and that organisations should find ways to encourage people to reverse this.

The hidden cost of taking the cowardly option

Rory SutherlandOgilvyOne London and Ogilvy Group UK

Companies need to stop tacitly encouraging defensive decision-making.

"Gut feelings are tools for an uncertain world. They're not caprice. They are not a sixth sense or God's voice. They are based on lots of experience, an unconscious form of intelligence."

This is from Gerd Gigerenzer, director of the Center for Adaptive Behavior and Cognition at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development1. Instinctive intelligence, as Gerd has proved, can be invaluable – and in many cases irreplaceable. Yet in business its use is either...

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