Episode 020: The Science of Changing Course with Dr. Jennifer Lerner
Jul 6, 2022
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Dr. Jennifer Lerner, Harvard Professor & former Chief Decision Scientist at U.S. Navy, talks about celebrating failure, terminating initiatives while keeping team confidence, and the surprising impact of anger on optimism in decision-making.
Introducing failure parties to celebrate good analysis incentivizes excellent analytic processes and challenges the human tendency to persist in the face of potential failure.
Dr. Lerner's research highlights the impact of emotions like fear and anger on decision-making processes, emphasizing the importance of understanding how emotions influence judgments.
Deep dives
Celebrating Analytical Excellence
Companies are incentivizing excellent analytic process by introducing failure parties to celebrate good analysis and individuals who challenge the human tendency to persist when faced with potential failure. This approach acknowledges the importance of rewarding smart judgments and decisions and fosters a culture of valuing meaningful analysis over blind persistence.
Understanding Decision-Making Environments
Dr. Jennifer Lerner, a tenured professor at Harvard University, specializes in teaching smart judgments and decisions, focusing not only on individual decision-making skills but also on designing environments that facilitate better judgments in organizational settings. Her research delves into the impacts of social factors and emotions on decision-making processes, highlighting the importance of creating conducive decision environments for effective organizational decisions.
Testing Sunk Cost Bias
Research conducted by Dr. Lerner and her team delved into the sunk cost bias, where individuals tend to escalate commitment to prior investments even when the outcomes are unfavorable. Through a series of experiments, it was revealed that leaders who deviated from prior commitments faced negative attributions, emphasizing the complexities of balancing reputational concerns with effective decision-making processes.
Emotions in Decision-Making
Dr. Lerner's research explores the impact of emotions like fear and anger on decision-making processes and risk perceptions. While fear tends to amplify risk perceptions and foster risk aversion, anger is associated with perceived certainty and can lead to unrealistic optimism. Understanding how emotions influence judgments can enhance decision-making strategies and mitigate biases in various contexts.
How can celebrating failure make us more successful? Tenured Harvard Professor and former Chief Decision Scientist in the U.S. Navy, Dr. Jennifer Lerner, joins your host, Executive Director of the Alliance for Decision Education, Dr. Joe Sweeney, to discuss why most organizations reward leaders who continue investing time and money into projects that are underperforming and how to break this pattern. She also shares how leaders can terminate an initiative while maintaining the confidence of their team, and how throwing “failure parties” may be the key to success. Jenn also shares a surprising insight about how feeling angry can make us unrealistically optimistic.
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