This week are discussing how to navigate the modern world and improve our sight and thus the choices we make in our lives. The truth is, one of the biggest dangers we face in the modern era is in our pocket or handbag, its in an app that we most likely engage with every day. I’m talking about social media and the ways in which we are indoctrinated and distracted into an increasingly polarised world. Extremism even.

I’ve referred to a couple of psychological studies that demonstrate the ways in which we are ALL regularly misled, misdirected, or distracted from what is directly in front of us.

Check out the studies below:-

Gorilla Study

Door Study

So how do we navigate our way through the minefield of the modern world?

I have drawn upon the works of Max Bazerman in his book The Power of Noticing.

What you see is NOT all there is and without seeing the whole picture, it is nigh on impossible for you to make SMART CHOICES.

The key tips he suggests are:-

1. Know what you want!! Start by identifying your objectives (eg. you want a car that is fuel efficient, that you can take on directions and will impress your neighbours). Whatever your preferences, you should weigh each criteria accordingly. With your goal specified you are ready to look at cars and rate each by your criteria. While most of us don’t go through this process with every significant purchase we make, with any luck we apply this logic when making a decision.

2. Imagine you want people to buy a product that your company is selling. Additionally and unfortunately you know that for most of these customers your product is less than optimal. It’s good, but competitors products beat yours on several obvious criteria. If shoppers follow a logical decision making process, they will buy the competition. What can you do? Misdirect. Eg. rather than leave the decision modelling to the consumer, the manufacturer does it for them – create a chart comparing to competitors. Eg. microsoft… they have a chart that compares their web browser to other brands like firefox. But when you look at the chart you realise most of the ‘outperformance’ measures don’t actually reflect what people are looking for or what matters to a consumer. Direct others attention to put you into the best light. Like magicians and thieves they would like to misdirect your attention to what they have chosen as the criteria and therefore limit what is in your focus. 

3. NEGOTIATING THE WRONG DEAL. a company that tried to negotiate rights to further information – turns out they wanted those rights so they could hide what they had already illegally taken. When the other side of a negotiation does something that doesn’t make sense to you, don’t assume they are acting irrationally. Instead, stop. Ask yourself what you might not know that could explain their actions. Whether they might be trying to misdirect you. Hamilton Real Estate – written by Deepak Mahotra – co-author of “Negotiation Genius”. In complex negotiations the PIE isn’t fixed. If they place different values on different stakes, both parties can make gains – by trading one issue for another…Discussing many issues at one time allows parties to consider who cares more about the many issues. 

In business negotiations items may include the following: guarantees of performance, time to implementation, payment terms, quality, contract length, exclusivity clauses, level of service, many many others. Issue by issue agendas can create a misdirection for both negotiators. The ability to expand the scope of negotiations can provide additional value for both parties. The best advice to avoid misdirection during negotiations is to put yourself in the other person’s shoes. This practice is rarely done and it is all the more important when we are interacting with people who may not have our best interests in mind. You can also avoid misdirection through CLARITY. Have you ever been frustrated when the other side didn’t implement an agreement as you understood it? Negotiators that want to deceive encourage ambiguity. Clarity can be your defence. Ambiguity. When you think you have a deal CONFIRM THE DETAILS – sometimes the ambiguity is intended to deceive.

1. DON’T focus on analysing data in front of you instead of asking the important question “what information do we actually need in order to make a wise decision??” This most commonly occurs in groups. Organisations often set up different teams with the objective of organising and capitalising on different perspectives. These teams often have access to the information they need to make the best decision possible. Unfortunately, team members often to fail to share with other members the very data they were brought in to share. The unique information that they possess and importantly their most important contribution to the team. Why?? Because group members tend to focus more on shared information…. Information that is available to all members rather than unique or unshared information known by only one member. Groups discuss shared information more often than unshared information, this is a paradox, since groups are often brought together for sharing specific information – but groups are often bounded awareness…

A well crafted misdirection will be missing some critical information. It might prevent you from asking the question – what does this group need in order to make good decisions???

SEEING THROUGH MISDIRECTION

We know how to make a logical decision:

• Define your objectives;
• Identify the multiple criteria that you are trying to achieve;
• Weight the criteria; and
• Identify options and analyse the best choice.