In episode 63 I speak with Dr. Gary Klein, founder of the Naturalist Decision Making movement. Gary discusses how we really make decisions and why the traditional, rational decision-making process that is taught in school is ineffective. Real decision-making is done on a subconscious level and is called naturalistic decision making. In this week’s show we discuss why experts make rapid decisions and how patterns play a role in the decision-making process. Struggling to make decisions while cutting Fresh Tracks? How to make and trust your decisions when you are doing something new as well as being open to see what you can be achieving instead of what you are not is covered.
Dr. Klein also discusses the role mindsets play in making decisions and gives examples on how we can change our mindsets systematically. There are, in fact, two types of mindsets; fixed mindset and a growth mindset. Which one you favor most effects your ability to cut Fresh Tracks. Struggling to make a decision? Gary shares that presenting things in a nontraditional manner or seeing the world through a different lens may allow you to see your problems in a new light and make the decision-making process easier.
Show Notes:
2:00 –Understanding how we don’t make decisions is key to understanding how we do
6:00 – How experts make decisions and how to learn from it
9:10—Why you should listen to your intuition but don’t trust it when doing something new
11:50 – How our mindsets affect our ability to make decisions and change.
16:00 – The danger of holding on to your initial goal rather than looking at what can work
20:42 – Recognizing when to change the plan vs change the goal
23:00 – The art of being stupid
27:00 – How to change your mindset systematically
About Gary Klein
Gary Klein, Ph.D., is known for (a) the cognitive models he described, such as the Recognition-Primed Decision (RPD) model, the Data/Frame model of sensemaking, the Management By Discovery model of planning in complex settings, and the Triple Path model of insight, (b) the methods he developed, including techniques for Cognitive Task Analysis, the PreMortem method of risk assessment, and the ShadowBox training approach, and (c) the movement he helped to found in 1989 — Naturalistic Decision Making.
The company he started in 1978, Klein Associates, grew to 37 employees by the time he sold it in 2005. He formed his new company, ShadowBox LLC, in 2014. The five books he has written, including Sources of Power: How people make decisions, and Seeing What Others Don’t: The remarkable ways we gain insights, have been translated into 12 languages and have collectively sold more than 100,000 copies.
