Jumping to conclusions

Why do we do it?

How do we do it?

How can we use our understanding of the 'ladder of inference' to make better judgements?

How to compare Apples and Oranges

We often avoid a decision by claiming that it is not 'comparable' - the old apples and oranges thing.

Whilst the infographic below (pretty cool, heh?) is a bit of fun; the deeper message is actually serious.

Do we take the easy way out by claiming 'apples and oranges'?

I do bellieve it is intelluctual laziness to resort to this excuse. Everything is comparable.

But to compare apparently disparate ideas/notions, we need to dig a bit deeper to get to the fundamental measure of worth.

The cliche: 'what doesn't kill you makes you stronger' comes to mind. Whilst all philosophical meaning has now been eroded by repeated use, it succeeds in framing all events/situations that may happen in relative terms.

No matter how different, you can compare outcomes with that particular statement.

Of course, I am not suggesting you use THAT as your Life's mantra, but I am thinking that all of us must explore our inner selves to find that fundamentalist belief.

(Fundamentalism has been given a bad rap by religion, but many people find their cornerstone beliefs in religion.)

We all need a cornerstone belief. In fact, I think we all have one, even if we have failed to articulate it or even recognise it ourselves.

But we need to believe in something that will allow us to compare apples and oranges.

Because, if you think about it, life is all about apples and oranges and rarely do we get important decisions that are of the 'red apple' or 'green apple' variety.

The same applies in business. I would hazard a guess that if you tried to describe the culture of your company in one sentence, then you would be describing the cornerstone.

Rather tough one for a Friday - hope the graphic makes up for it.

Infographic by Smarter.org

Dan Ariely: Are we in control of our own decisions?

Dan Ariely's book - Predictably Irrational is a great read.

This give you a flavour for some of the ideas.

And some shameless self-promotion: Our SellsSmart training for Retailers is built on the psychological principles popularised here. Browse around and check us out.