art of decision making Archives

The Transformation Plateau: Why Change Stalls in the Messy Middle Issue 241, December 4, 2025 The early enthusiasm everyone on the team had was palpable. Six months ago, leaders announced a sweeping digital transformation initiative with all the fanfare that major change initiatives deserve. The town hall was packed, Slack channels were full of employee chatter, and everyone seemed optimistic. Executives spoke passionately about the future and the problems being solved. Early adopters volunteered eagerly for pilot programs. The organization’s…

Kevin Novak

December 3, 2025

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Human Factor Podcast

Human Factor Podcast Season 1 Episode 4 Data Noise and Decision Paralysis: When Too Much Information Kills Critical Thinking

Episode 004 Data Noise and Decision Paralysis: When Too Much Information Kills Critical Thinking The More Information We Have Access to, the Less Capable We Become of Wisdom Hosts: Kevin Novak and Elizabeth Stewart Duration: 32 minutes Available: October 30, 2025 🎙️Season 1, Episode 4 Episodes are available in both video and audio formats across all major podcast platforms, including Spotify, YouTube, Pandora, Apple Podcasts, and via RSS, among others. Transcript Available Below Episode Overview Kevin Novak and Elizabeth Stewart…

Kevin Novak

October 29, 2025

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Human Factor Podcast

Human Factor Podcast Season 1 Episode 3 Why Smart People Make Bad Decisions: The Psychology of Bias in Leadership

Episode 003 Why Smart People Make Bad Decisions: The Psychology of Bias in Leadership Exploring How Leaders Miss the Crucial Step of Examining Their Underlying Assumptions Hosts: Kevin Novak and Elizabeth Stewart Duration: 24 minutes Available: October 23, 2025 🎙️Season 1, Episode 3 Episodes are available in both video and audio formats across all major podcast platforms, including Spotify, YouTube, Pandora, Apple Podcasts, and via RSS, among others. Transcript Available Below Episode Overview Smart leaders. Dangerous blind spots. Costly transformation…

Kevin Novak

October 22, 2025

Mastering the Art of Decision-Making in Uncertain Times: Part Two: A Practical Guide

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Ideas and Innovations Newsletter

Mastering the Art of Decision-Making in Uncertain Times: Part Two: A Practical Guide

Mastering the Art of Decision-Making in Uncertain Times: Part Two: A Practical Guide Issue 197, January 30, 2025 Last week we explored how to understand how we make decisions in uncertain times. We said that uncertainty has become a certainty, challenging leaders to think differently when it comes to managing change and transformation. Today, we are tackling the issue with a practical guide for improving decision-making skills that is relevant to our disruptive personal and professional environment. Our guide is…

Kevin Novak

January 30, 2025

Mastering the Art of Decision-Making: Part One

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Ideas and Innovations Newsletter

Mastering the Art of Decision-Making: Part One

Mastering the Art of Decision-Making: Part One Issue 196, January 23, 2025 Uncertainty has become a defining characteristic of both our personal and professional lives in today’s rapidly changing unpredictable world. Stated simply, uncertainty is a certainty. From navigating disruptive markets and responding to global crises to contending with career challenges and family issues, decision-making under pressure has become a persistent and constant reality. Consider those impacted by the ongoing wildfires in California who were instantly thrown into uncertainty when…

Kevin Novak

January 20, 2025

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Ideas and Innovations Newsletter

The Value of Reflective Decision-Making

The Value of Reflective Decision-Making Issue 155, April 11, 2024 Admit it, most of us are stressed out and often filled with anxiety. We are time-pressed. Overbooked. Distracted. Confused. Dumbfounded. Surprised. And potentially even trending to pessimism. We are trying to make sense of events we can’t control that are hurtling toward us daily through our news feeds. A Moment in Time We’re also grappling with the speed of change in the digital economy and our connected society. The news…

Kevin Novak

April 10, 2024

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Ideas and Innovations Newsletter

Unintended Consequences: Decision-Making and Economic Interconnectedness

Unintended Consequences: Decision-Making and Economic Interconnectedness Issue 151, March 14, 2024 We’re entering the fray in the debate on the economy. And central to this debate is a refresher focused on our inability to make connections, see patterns and anticipate how micro and macro trends can radically and consequentially compromise our approach to solving real or perceived problems. In solving what we see as immediate problems (low wages, inflation, price-gouging, lack of skilled workers and migration as examples), there are…

Kevin Novak

March 14, 2024

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Ideas and Innovations Newsletter

Do You Fall Prey to Oversimplification?

Do You Fall Prey to Oversimplification? Issue 147, February 15, 2024 We all do it. We oversimplify when it suits us or when we believe that is what our audience wants to hear. In business, we have been programmed not to share too many financial details and just report the high-level numbers. Or not get all techy; talk in plain English. Avoid all those legal terms that make heads spin. Can’t you just say that a different way? Add to…

Kevin Novak

February 14, 2024

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Ideas and Innovations Newsletter

The Risk of Certainty

The Risk of Certainty Issue 143, January 18, 2024 Human nature, at its deepest core, reinforces our longing for certainty and the prospect of security and stability. We don’t want things around us to change. We want assurance that what we know is true and real. We want certainty that we made the right decisions and choices so that outputs and outcomes will be what we expect. Ambiguity creates anxiety and insecurity and makes us defensive. Ambiguity makes most of…

Kevin Novak

January 17, 2024

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Ideas and Innovations Newsletter

Hubris – Ideas and Innovations from 2040

Hubris Issue 115, June 29, 2023 Every day we assess the potential rewards along with the real and perceived risks of the situations, desires, tasks, and ideas we confront. We may not be consciously aware of these assessments, but they are happening all the time. Our ever-expanding technical prowess has resulted in new tools, more efficient production, opportunities to transform ideas into reality, and new platforms to engage and connect. We also have access to expanding our knowledge and deferring…

Kevin Novak

June 28, 2023

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