Korva is a scroll of the internet’s best ideas.
Write the decision down first
Decide before pressure
The logic is the same as not going to the grocery store hungry. Someone who plans to fire a new hire in month three if the person misses certain requirements writes those requirements down first. At month three, the question is only whether the person hit them or not, and the answer gets followed. That matters most for someone who is predisposed to dislike confrontation.
Shorter feedback loops
A shorter feedback loop helps too. When points on the scoreboard show up fast, new information arrives quickly.
Avoiding fatal games
The last guard is staying out of games where a person's own bias would be fatal. A control freak who is slow and steady would be set up to lose by raising lots of venture capital, where control is limited and the expectation is to move very fast.
Why do people tie themselves to decisions in advance?
Philosopher Jon Elster used the story of Odysseus as the model in his 1979 book Ulysses and the Sirens. Odysseus ordered his crew to tie him to the mast so he could hear the sirens' song without steering toward the rocks. Precommitment is the general name for any arrangement made while calm that limits what a later self can do. Examples include savings plans that deduct automatically and phones locked in a drawer.
Why do people misjudge how they will act under pressure?
Behavioral economist George Loewenstein named this the hot-cold empathy gap. People in a calm state underestimate how strongly hunger, anger, fear, or social pressure will pull on them later. The same person decides differently in the heat of the moment. A rule fixed in the calm state removes that moment from the decision.
How does fast feedback make people better?
Psychologists Daniel Kahneman and Gary Klein wrote in 2009 that expert intuition develops only in settings with regular patterns and quick, clear feedback. Chess players and firefighters get that kind of feedback, and their judgment sharpens. Stock pickers and political forecasters often wait years to learn whether they were right. Slow feedback lets confidence grow faster than skill.
Why does venture capital reward speed?
Venture funds usually have a life of about ten years, after which they must return money to their investors. A few big winners generate most of a fund's returns, a pattern known as the power law. To find those winners in time, investors push companies to grow fast and give founders little room for slow, careful control. A fund's calendar shapes the pace it demands.
More from My First Million
