How to Control the Boss
It is easier than you might think.
I have often said, “Let me control your data and I will control what you think.” That was reinforced by an article in Plos One.
The experimental approach was to offer a scenario in which a school was running out of water. The options were to merge with another school which had water or to stay separate and hope for rain. The control group was given three reasons to stay separate, three reasons to merge, and one neutral reason. The experimental groups were both given the neutral reason and three reasons to stay separate or three reasons to merge. The experimental groups were likely to decide based on the information given. They were also more likely than the control group to believe that others would make the same decision that they had. The experimental groups did not seem to consider that they did not have all of the information.
We all make decisions based on the information we have been given. It is the unusual person who wonders what has been left out. That is why propaganda is so easy to deploy. The propaganda does not have to be false. In fact, if it can be proven to be factually true it is even more effective. The power comes in leaving out key information.
All areas of life are affected by the problem. In this post we will focus on business. How is business affected?
A great top executive will consider information for both sides of a decision. A challenge is to find both sides. If those under us know that we favor a particular decision, they will be more likely to want to give us information that confirms our position. SimplyPsychology states, “Confirmation bias is the tendency to interpret new information as confirmation of your preexisting beliefs and opinions while giving disproportionately less consideration to alternative possibilities.” In the case of top executives, unless subordinates are told that contrary information is valued, we are likely to get information supporting our positions.
Great decisions start with great top executives. However, as the research is showing, we make decisions based on the information we have. I can control the decision of even the best executive if I get to control the data. Great executives must demand all information and realize Donald Rumsfeld’s statement, “There are things we don’t know we don’t know.”
Want to control the boss? Control the information. Even the best executive should have a little humility.