The Illusion of Control in an Uncertain World

In Episode #342, Anil Gaba, professor of decision sciences and the Orpar Chaired Professor of Risk Management at INSEAD, explains how risk and uncertainty are not the same and how control can be gained by paradoxically giving up control. Professor Gaba offers a fascinating insight into luck, chance, control, the illusion of control, and decision making. For example, behaviorally we have cognitive biases—such as overconfidence—and emotional biases, which make it hard to learn from experience. This gives an illusion of control that, if we could learn to overcome, could lead to better investment decisions. Can we make our own luck, or do we just have to deal with the cruel vicissitudes of life? At the end of the day, Professor Gaba says that we have to make the best decisions that we can in the moment but that we are all exposed to the uncertainty of life.