Ep. 126: Gleb Tsipursky - Never Go With Your Gut

Today we take a close look at some advice, some perceived wisdom that is everywhere: “going with your gut” – that is, making decisions based on what feels right.

It’s advice that is incredibly popular. It’s incredibly common. And it’s incredibly wrong. A gut feel is a terrible way to make a decision.

To explain, Dr. Gleb Tsipursky is back with his third appearance on the podcast. Gleb has authored a new book – Never Go With Your Gut: How Pioneering Leaders Make the Best Decisions and Avoid Business Disasters.

If you have not listened to our previous episodes with Gleb, he has an academic background in neuroscience and behavioural economics, is the founder and CEO of Disaster Avoidance Experts, is the author of several books and has made numerous appearances in prominent media outlets.

In this episode, we tackle the subject of decision-making based on gut feel, why this is bad advice, and what to do instead. This is a great conversation for anyone who makes decisions, and that is all of us. Not only that, but if you are an entrepreneur, business owner, someone in a leadership position or have a big decision to make in the near future, you will especially want to listen to the whole episode.

Show notes:

Never Go With Your Gut: How Pioneering Leaders Make the Best Decisions and Avoid Business Disasters

Disaster Avoidance Experts

Bernie Ebbers and the Worldcom scandal

Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman

The WeWork scandal

The Planning Fallacy

Bikeshedding (Parkinson’s Law of Triviality)