There's a book that changed forever the way we understand how we think; it's not a leadership book, it's not a strategy book, it's a book about how the human mind works when it decides and that, for any leader, changes everything.
I am referring to Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman, a psychologist who ended up winning the Nobel Prize in Economics.
Why? Because it showed something uncomfortable for the business world.
That most of our decisions are not as rational as we think, Kahneman explains that our brain works with two systems, one fast, intuitive, automatic, and one slower, analytical and reflective.
The problem is that the fast system dominates most of our decisions even when we think we're being completely rational and that, within a company, has huge consequences, decisions that seem strategic... but they're actually full of bias.
Teams that are convinced of internal narratives... even if reality is saying something else.
Leaders who speak with absolute certainty... even if they do not have all the information, because there is something that Kahneman shows with brutal clarity:
The human brain is designed to feel safe... even when it's wrong. So companies need more than talent, they need leaders who can question their own thinking, who can stop, who can wonder if what they're seeing... is really the reality or just the story their mind wants to believe.
Because in leadership there's something we should never forget:
The greatest risk is not wrong.
The greatest risk is to be convinced that you can't be wrong.
