Plan Meet Repeat May/June 2020 PMR May.June | Page 3

Dr. Gleb Tsipursky
Never Go With Your Gut
Our authentic selves are adapted for the ancient savanna, not
the modern business world. Following our intuitions can lead to
terrible decisions in today’s professional environment. For the
sake of our bottom lines, we need to avoid following our primi-
tive instincts and instead be civilized about how we address the
inherently flawed nature of our minds.
PMR: How did you get started as a speaker?
GT: I got my start speaking as a trainer for the test prep com-
pany Kaplan. After receiving a high score on my SATs, I was
invited by Kaplan to be a trainer for them, and I did so from
1999 onward. They did a great job teaching me how to do out-
standing training, and propelled me on my career as a speaker
with over 20 years of experience.
That training served me in good stead as I developed my exper-
tise in decision making, social and emotional intelligence, lead-
ing change, risk management, employee engagement, bridging
age divides, and effective communication. I transitioned in the
start of the new millennium from training for Kaplan to train-
ing, consulting, and coaching in these areas. At the same time,
I went into academia and became a behavioral economist and
cognitive neuroscientist studying the psychology of decision
making in business and other contexts. I spent over 15 years
in academia, including 7 years as a professor at the Ohio State
University (Go Bucks!), publishing dozens of peer-reviewed
academic publications in well-respected scholarly journals.
So now, I combine my experience of over 20 years consulting,
coaching, and speaking for business leaders, with 15 years of
academic research, to give the best of both worlds to my audi-
ences.
PMR: Tell us about your message, what makes you so pas-
sionate about it?
GT: The biggest falsehood in business leadership and career ad-
vice may also be the most repeated: “go with your gut.” Surely
you heard this advice often, as well as some variations of that
phrase, such as “trust your instincts,” “be authentic,” “listen to
your heart,” or “follow your intuition” as a decision maker.
I’m deeply frustrated, saddened, and angered when I see highly
profitable companies, top-notch careers, and great business re-
lationships devastated because someone bought into the toxic
advice of going with their gut. When someone returns home
from some guru’s fire-walking seminar and starts to behave like
their “authentic self ” they are simply shooting themselves – and
their business – in the foot.
Think of these questions:
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What percent of projects in your company suffer from cost
overruns?
When was the last time a leader in your company resisted
needed changes?
How often are people in your team overconfident about the
quality of their decisions?
What proportion of plans in your workplace overempha-
sizes smaller short-term gains over larger long-term ones?
How frequently do your people express reluctance to have
difficult conversations over potentially serious issues?
All of these and many other problems come from following
our gut reactions. Any of these mistakes, if repeated frequent-
ly enough, can and do result in disasters for successful compa-
nies and bring down high-flying careers, especially when facing
smart competitors who educate themselves on how to avoid
such problems. By contrast, if you’re the one to learn about and
defend yourself from these errors, you can take advantage of
rivals who go with their guts and make devastating mistakes,
enabling you to gain a serious competitive edge.
It’s really depressing for me to read the accounts of employees,
stockholders, and communities devastated by decision disas-
ters. As someone with an ethical code of utilitarianism – desir-
ing the most good for the greatest number – I feel a calling to re-
duce suffering and improve well-being through helping leaders
avoid dangerous judgment errors. I recognize that by reaching
leaders, I bring a great deal of value through the impact these
leaders make on others. That’s why I decided to dedicate my life
to empowering leaders to fight mental blindspots and make the
best decisions possible, for the sake of themselves, their organi-
zations, and our society as a whole.
PMR: What are the top 3 takeaways for Attendees?
GT:
• Assess where you or others on your team might suffer from
subtle dangerous judgment errors (called cognitive biases)
that trigger disastrous decisions
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