Role of Emotion in Decision Making
Two days ago, in
the middle of conducting time-sensitive research, I lost Internet
connectivity. Frustrated, angry, and
slightly anxious about my deadline, I called the IT folks for assistance. Our techy quickly responded and led me to a
room chockablock of servers, fans, and wires.
Completely out of my element, I quizzically stared at the chaotic maze
before me not knowing where one wire ended and another began. The sound of the clicking servers mixed with
the hum of the fans created an eerie feeling as if I were a spectator in the
corner of an operating room. Standing
inside our organization’s electronic
brain, I pondered the infinite number of conversations, emails, and
decisions flowing through the wires. With
synopses firing and neurotransmitters pinging, the servers reminded me of our
brains; each offering a congested interstate of possibilities. Behind the wires lie thousands of desires, decisions,
and deals. All motivated by one powerful
force: Emotions.
In his video, Emotions in Decision Making, Professor
Baba Shiv said, “Emotion plays a crucial role in decision making by allowing us
to resolve decision conflict.” They
allow us to emerge from a decision feeling confident about the decision;
honoring the convictions we feel. The
mental civil war between left brain logic and right brain intuition is as
fierce a fight as the blue and gray.
Pursuing a business deal because you feel it in your gut even though the
numbers don’t add up or walking away from an unhealthy relationship while your
heart longs for your ex are decisions that cause significant internal
conflict. Similarly, in his book Start With Why, Simon Sinek (2009) said, “We make decisions all day
long, and many of them are emotionally-driven; rarely do we sift through all
the available information to ensure we know every fact” (p. 60). As leaders, we often face forks in the road
separating two equally beneficial decision options. Deciding which road to take can be
difficult. My advice: When theory has
been exhausted, follow your heart. Moving
forward with confidence provides the strength necessary to continue on a course
of action.
One of the biggest
decisions I’ve made in the past few years was whether to reenlist and remain in
the Air Force or choose to retire at twenty-years of service. The military offers a number of great
benefits; one of which is job security.
Choosing to retire means looking for another job…unemployment? Nearing forty-years of age and carrying more
debt than I’d prefer, reenlisting seemed the obvious choice. I was accelerating well through the ranks and
the next promotion was easily within reach.
Colleagues, supervisors, and extended family assumed reenlistment was a
forgone conclusion. For me, it was
anything but.
As twenty-years
approached, I realized if I were to retire, my family and I would be relocated
to another part of the country. With my
children established in school and my wife and I secure in our local church, we
talked in great detail about whether to stay-in the Air Force or try our hand
in the civilian sector. Having completed
my MBA and taking all the family’s concerns into consideration, I decided to
retire. While most of my friends and
coworkers were shocked, I was confident.
While I didn’t know what awaited us after retirement, I knew I had made
the right decision.
There were times
after retirement—prior to finding another job—that my emotions wavered from
exuberance to anxiety. With the military
behind me and an uncertain future ahead, my confidence grew and became as Dr.
Shiva referenced, “contagious.” My
family and I can look back now eight years later with no regrets. We made the right choice. As a result of retiring, I landed a great job
with Lockheed Martin and best of all, my daughter met her husband and they
provided us our first grandchild! All
things considered, I followed the path of my heart (and a lot of prayer) and
chose what seemed to be the harder
road and it paid off.
Six years later,
we’d be making another decision that challenged us to weigh various options:
leaving the church we’ve attended for ten years. Many people attend churches, leave, and find
another, then leave again. The church we
attended from 2000 to 2010 had become a second home. It was a place where we found help, our
children grew up, and we met our closest friends. Furthermore, we had become pivotal leaders
within the church.
In July 2009, my
wife mentioned that she felt stirred to leave our church. Embedded deep in the programs, leading two
large ministries, and not knowing where else we would go, I immediately
discarded her initial thoughts and continued participating as a member of the
cog in ministry. Six months later, she
was ready to go. By that time, I had
agreed that recent changes in the church and its new direction did not fare
well with me either and realized the end was near. Telling everyone we were leaving took a minor
toll on my emotions. Sadness, doubt,
uncertainty, and the possibility of hurting others with our departure weighed
heavily upon me.
In May 2010, we
met with the senior leadership at the church and informed them we were
leaving. While not completely confident
we were making the right decision, there were a number of indicators that
caused me to lean toward leaving. By
discussing our feelings, weighing our options, and being open about our
concerns, we made a decision with enough confidence to face the
consequences. Within thirty days, we
were attending another church, met more friends, and are realizing after every
passing day that we made the right decision to leave two years ago. Confidence was low when we left but over
time, its been proven that we made the best decision.
Decision confidence
provides us with a foundation of faith. In
modeling human decision making, economists generally assume people will
maximize their expected utility. We
assume that they will make the choice that appears to offer them the highest
benefit relative to the cost (Hoch & Kunreuther, 2001, p. 290). Trying to conduct a cost/benefit analysis when
emotions are running high is like trying to comb your hair on a windy day: just
when you think everything is in place, it is quickly messed up. In the future, rather than trying to ignore
or minimize emotions in the decision making process, I will express and
evaluate them in terms of the decision options.
Making decisions purely from emotion or completely ignoring emotions can
be equally dangerous. The goal is to
allow the right balance of emotions and logic to lead you toward the right
decision. In short, follow your heart
but use your mind.
Legacy leads with the heart.
Steve
References:
Hoch, S.J., & Kunreuther, H.C.
(2001). Wharton on Making Decisions. New York, NY: John
Wiley & Sons,
Inc.
Shiv, B. (2011). Brain Research at
Stanford: Decision Making. Retrieved from
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WRKfl4owWKc
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