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Gut instinct still beats data and analytics when making major decisions 

22/9/2014

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A new PwC report, ‘Guts & Gigabytes’  has found that business leaders take major businesses decisions based less on data and analytics and more on gut instinct and experience. They believe that both their own intuition and experience (41%) and the experience of others (31%) is of more importance than data and analytics which came third with 23%.

Written by the Economist Intelligence Unit, the report explores how companies are using data and in particular, how the nature of decision-making is changing.
Although gut instinct dominates, in the UK, 83% of senior executives believe that their big decision-making has improved in the last two years, because of the availability of better internal and external data; Yet 41% still remain concerned about the quality, accuracy and completeness of data.
Business leaders also share a recognition that future leaders need to be familiar with data analysis, with 81% of UK executives calling it a prerequisite for senior management. Tom Lewis, PwC head of data analytics, comments: “In the digital age, as business becomes ever more complex and data becomes ever more available, business leaders need to ensure they know how to quickly make decisions based on their analysis of data.”
The major findings are similar around the world, but interestingly; because big decisions are being driven so much by costs and margin pressure, 52% of UK business leaders expect to collaborate with their competitors in the next year, a figure which is significantly higher than the global average of 36%.
Download 'Guts and Gigabytes' here



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And now for something uniquely human

3/2/2014

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PictureFlickr via Creative Commons; L: Yuri Samoilov R: BBM Explorer
This extract taken from the journal Neuron:

Scientists at Oxford University recently discovered an area of the brain that contributes to make humans, well, human. The walnut-sized area, nestled within the frontal cortex, is called the lateral frontal pole. It’s responsible for planning and decision-making and, according to the new findings, has no equivalent in the monkey brain. Researchers thus believe this brain region might be responsible for humans’ upper hand in tasks that require strategic planning, decision-making and multitasking.
The researchers compared MRI images of humans’ and macaques’ ventro-lateral frontal cortex, a region of the brain that controls language and complex thought processes. Surprisingly, they found that the region was wired up in much the same way between the species. But the striking difference was the lateral frontal pole.

Oxford senior researcher Matthew Rushworth explained the significance:
“We tend to think that being able to plan into the future, be flexible in our approach and learn from others are things that are particularly impressive about humans. We’ve identified an area of the brain that appears to be uniquely human, and is likely to have something to do with these cognitive powers.”

Karl Zilles, a neuroscientist at the Institute for Neuroscience and Medicine in Germany, told The Guardian that the study also takes us a significant step forward in the study of psychiatric disease:
“I am quite sure that this will turn out to be of great importance in studying psychiatric disease. What we understand now is the connectivity within the brain. We know the cables and the connections. What we have to do now is combine all this with how information is processed in the different brain areas.”


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Is a bad decision better than no decision?

17/7/2013

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My answer would be a clear yes. With effective communication being so vital in organisations, a lack of clear decisions results in the dirty word "politics" inevitably entering the arena.
 Japanese companies used to be famous for discussing things for ever but then coming to a decision and acting on it quickly. A full review with a look at as many consequences as possible is important but it cannot go on too long, particularly today. 
In the words of Theodore Roosevelt:
“In any moment of decision, the best thing you can do is the right thing, the next best thing is the wrong thing, and the worst thing you can do is nothing.” 
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    James Capon is a founding partner of Lazy Horses. He feels he is rational when he needs to be. But he's probably wrong about that.

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