Heat of the Moment

I'm not usually a big one on studies, but two came up recently that, when looked at together, explain a LOT of bad decisions.

The first was that productivity and critical thinking plummet when a negative or bullying person leads the process. Not only do people not want to work, but when they shut down their natural intellectual questions about the issue at hand, they move into "Group Think," in which they can justify any bad decision. One example is Nixon's White House staff planning a burglary to violate the privacy of Daniel Ellsberg. The "Final Solution" devised by the Nazis is another. Both situations had incredibly strong willed leaders and a breakdown in checks and balances of multiple points of view.

The second was in Harvard Business Review. Two researchers found that short-term negative emotions led to some irrational long-term decisions. Read more here.

Lesson: Don't make a long-term decision if you've been upset and keep your intellectual integrity by asking questions even in the face of a bully. It'll be better for the world in the long run.