Sunk cost bias has been blamed for everything from disastrous military campaigns to over-budget public works and is widely acknowledged as a serious obstacle to effective decision-making. Defined as the “tendency to continue an endeavour once an investment in money, effort or time has been made”, it leads people to “throw good money after bad” […]
Subject: Leadership
Decision-Making With Emotional Intelligence
Emotional intelligence — the awareness and understanding of emotions — has a variety of workplace applications and benefits. Leaders who perceive and relate to the emotions of those they direct are going to be seen as more caring and understanding leaders. Leaders who can better manage their own emotions will also develop more positive relationships […]
The Surprising Reality of the Leadership of Change
The KSV plastics company is in trouble. A myopic cost control program has created supply chain and production problems and made it difficult to deliver orders on time and to acceptable standards. One of its best customers, Avobus, looks likely to ‘walk’. Managers are working themselves into the ground to keep the business afloat – […]
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When Allowing Decision Latitude Can Backfire
Most leaders now recognize (at least theoretically if not always in practice) the ineffectiveness of the old school top-down, command-and-control leadership style. The knowledge worker of the information age is not going to be satisfied with simply obeying orders from above. The best managers avoid micromanaging their employees, giving them instead the freedom to make […]
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Leaders Less Stressed than Followers Due to a Sense of Control
In a classic Harvard Business Review article published in 1981, Harry Levinson said “managing others… creates unending stress… Today’s managers face increasing time pressures with little respite.” Levinson’s view is not unique; in fact, leadership is still widely viewed as highly stressful. A 2013 Business Insider article describes being a CEO as an “incredibly lonely […]
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Aristotle, Ethics and the ‘Art’ of Leadership
In Aristotle’s great work the Nicomachean Ethics, happiness (eudaimonia) is not a feeling so much as a state — and a state with a distinctly moral dimension. Synonymous with ‘living well and acting well’, it arises from being part of and being active in a social life and a political community, and it originates in […]
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Leadership: Is it in the Genes?
The ‘nature v. nurture’ debate has been around for centuries, argued over by psychologists, sociologists and the like; the business world has not escaped from it either. Whether leaders are born or made has formed the crux of numerous studies, most swaying one way or the other. However, NUS Business School’s Dr. Richard Arvey puts […]
Co-operative Behaviour: Neuroscience Insights
A growing number of studies in both the field and the laboratory demonstrate that people are imperfect co-operators — they tend to co-operate only if others do so, and a significant minority don’t co-operate at all. This pattern of behaviour causes unstable co-operation levels and often results in the disappearance of positive collective action over […]
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Modern Tribes – Managing Diversity and Identity
The term “tribalism” was coined by sociologist Michel Maffesoli in the 1980s to explain a shift in Western society from one built around the individual to a world populated by “affective communities” where individuals, driven by the emotional bonds of these communities, seek to belong and feel useful. They identify with a group – or […]
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Learn to Forgive: Mandela’s Leadership Legacy
The story of Nelson Mandela is a remarkable illustration of forgiveness. In the face of fierce opposition from most members of the ANC, Mandela reached out to his former enemies to try to build a unified nation. “Forgiveness,” he told party members, “liberates the soul, it removes fear. That’s why it’s such a powerful weapon.” […]
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