323 — Making decisions with data and intuition

‘Big data’ promised us an end to uncertainty, but we realise now that this is a myth. Uncertainty will always remain, and intuition can help us navigate it.

That’s the claim of Oded Netzer, one of the authors of Decisions Over Decimals: Striking the Balance Between Intuition and Information. On this week’s episode of The Mind Tools L&D Podcast, Oded joins Ross G and Ross D to discuss:

• Why looking for a ‘perfect’ answer isn’t helpful
• How ‘quantitative intuition’ (QI) can help us make decisions
• Techniques for identifying the data you do need to make decisions.

You can find out more about Decisions Over Decimals, including where to buy a copy, at dodthebook.com/

During the discussion, Ross D referenced the website FiveThirtyEight.com. You can find it here: fivethirtyeight.com/

In ‘What I Learned This Week’, Oded discussed Malcolm Gladwell’s Revisionist History episode ‘My Little Hundred Million’: pushkin.fm/podcasts/revisionist-history/my-little-hundred-million

Ross D referenced FiveThirtyEight (again) to explore the technology within a football: fivethirtyeight.com/features/the-world-cups-new-high-tech-ball-will-change-soccer-forever/

Ross G encouraged all of you to follow him on Mastodon (the hottest new social network, pew-pew!). Check out: mastodon.scot/@rossgarner

For more from us, including access to our back catalogue of podcasts, visit mindtoolsbusiness.com. There, you'll also find details of our award-winning performance support toolkit, our off-the-shelf e-learning, and our custom work.  

Connect with our speakers   

If you'd like to share your thoughts on this episode, connect with our speakers on Twitter:    

• Ross Garner - @RossGarnerMT (or @rossgarner@mastodon.scot)
• Ross Dickie - @RossDickieMT
• Oded Netzer - @OdedNetzer

Bonus content! Check out this photo of Ross D with his award: twitter.com/MindToolsFB/status/1593232298358763521?s=20&t=BXnJsjoQ0bYR1_DzvPdjpg