Comments on: Isn’t There Something Tough About Leading? http://www.balance-and-results.com/isnt-there-something-tough-about-leading.html Effectiveness in Human Resources, Leadership and Personal Success Strategies Mon, 28 Jun 2010 22:47:39 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: Dave Crisp http://www.balance-and-results.com/isnt-there-something-tough-about-leading.html/comment-page-1#comment-15 Dave Crisp Fri, 16 Nov 2007 01:26:29 +0000 http://www.balance-and-results.com/?p=61#comment-15 Definitely similar issues, Craig. I think you're exactly right that the more we realize how we might react in uncertain situations, the more we'd be in a position to think through our reactions and balance them with what we logically want to do rather than be completely swayed by feelings. Building confidence by seeing past instances where you stuck it out through uncertainty and ultimately succeeded helps a lot, too. Definitely similar issues, Craig. I think you’re exactly right that the more we realize how we might react in uncertain situations, the more we’d be in a position to think through our reactions and balance them with what we logically want to do rather than be completely swayed by feelings. Building confidence by seeing past instances where you stuck it out through uncertainty and ultimately succeeded helps a lot, too.

]]> By: Craig Allen http://www.balance-and-results.com/isnt-there-something-tough-about-leading.html/comment-page-1#comment-14 Craig Allen Fri, 16 Nov 2007 01:01:04 +0000 http://www.balance-and-results.com/?p=61#comment-14 Hi Dave, I just attended a presentation this week about the field of "Behavioral Finance." The field studies uncertain financial outcomes (e.g. stock prices) acknowledging that imperfect human responses affect the supposedly rational decisions made by players in financial markets. While the field addresses financial decisions, it appears to apply also to broader decisions made under uncertainty. An example of such a decision under uncertainty is a teacher's decision to persist in looking for a business-managerial job, while getting mixed or discouraging feedback. According to Behavioral Finance, it is very difficult for humans to arrive at an unbiased assessment of what their "results" to date mean in terms of their prospects, where the results were the outcome of an uncertain process. Where the job-seeker is abruptly rejected by a prospective employer, the job-seeker may be discouraged from trying other potential employers - even where the rude rebuff was due to nothing more than the prospective employer having a bad day. Several tendencies (going under such terms as "anchoring," "framing," "mental accounting," and "regret avoidance") lead people to reach biased conclusions about the prospects for success of an endeavour. Even if the individual is able to arrive at an unbiased view of their chances for success, there is another obstacle. Humans have difficulty making decisions in the face of uncertainty. Even if successes outnumber failures 99 to 1, the individual must decide to proceed knowing there is a chance of failure. Perhaps being aware of our human limitations in 1. assessing our prospects, and 2. decision making in light of these prospects can help in moving forward in the face of uncertainty. Hi Dave,

I just attended a presentation this week about the field of “Behavioral Finance.” The field studies uncertain financial outcomes (e.g. stock prices) acknowledging that imperfect human responses affect the supposedly rational decisions made by players in financial markets.

While the field addresses financial decisions, it appears to apply also to broader decisions made under uncertainty. An example of such a decision under uncertainty is a teacher’s decision to persist in looking for a business-managerial job, while getting mixed or discouraging feedback.

According to Behavioral Finance, it is very difficult for humans to arrive at an unbiased assessment of what their “results” to date mean in terms of their prospects, where the results were the outcome of an uncertain process. Where the job-seeker is abruptly rejected by a prospective employer, the job-seeker may be discouraged from trying other potential employers – even where the rude rebuff was due to nothing more than the prospective employer having a bad day.

Several tendencies (going under such terms as “anchoring,” “framing,” “mental accounting,” and “regret avoidance”) lead people to reach biased conclusions about the prospects for success of an endeavour.

Even if the individual is able to arrive at an unbiased view of their chances for success, there is another obstacle. Humans have difficulty making decisions in the face of uncertainty. Even if successes outnumber failures 99 to 1, the individual must decide to proceed knowing there is a chance of failure.

Perhaps being aware of our human limitations in

1. assessing our prospects, and
2. decision making in light of these prospects

can help in moving forward in the face of uncertainty.

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