Smart decisions & human longevity escape velocity
Decision Balance Newsletter | 9.19.2024
Key Insight
“Wise nomadic leaders know if they don’t move while they are strong, they won’t have the fortitude to move when the next crisis hits” -Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard. I have seen investors, business leaders, and artists pause daily effort and avoid major strategic decisions when things are going well. They think, “things are finally working,” let’s continue as is.” Investors hold winners too long, managers ignore fixed expense growth as sales unsustainably rise, and artists get distracted by auction prices for the paintings they no longer own. Continuous improvement (kaizen), a consistent commitment to the craft ensures that peaks do not turn into valleys.
A question to ask yourself
Do you ask the right questions? In his book, In The Light of What We Know, Zia Hader Rahman says that “the only answers each of us hears are to the questions we are capable of asking.” The questions a leader asks often determines the direction of the discourse and the actions taken. The next time you ask a question of someone else, first ask yourself (1) why did I choose this question? - to dominate others or give them a voice,? (2) is it the best question to improve what matters most for the business,? and (3) are there other, deeper questions that still need to be asked to get to the root cause?
Reading, podcast thoughts
Taking risks is hard. In this section I lay out some examples of how others make it less challenging. The situation and your personal risk appetite influence which you might follow. Consider working with a coach if you are looking to change how you make decisions.
In Born a Crime, Trevor Noah shares If you ask my mother whether she ever considered the ramifications of having a mixed child under apartheid, she will say no. She had a level of fearlessness that you have to possess to take on something like she did. If you stop to consider the ramifications, you’ll never do anything. Still, it was a crazy, reckless thing to do. A million things had to go right for us to slip through the cracks the way we did for as long as we did.
Both Jensen Huang of Nvidia and Arnold Schwarzenegger (governor, actor, real estate investor) believe that overthinking slows you down, tightens you up and results in missed opportunities. Huang when facing a challenge, asks himself “how hard can it be?” The superpower is convincing yourself and others that the goal is feasible so you can begin the work. Arnold is also a big believer in setting a vision and going for it. He explains that preparation and knowledge are important but they are too slow to consciously rely on when it’s time to act. This then leads us to INTUITION...
In Art of Learning: world chess and tai chi champion Josh Waitzkin explains “in chess often you feel something before you find it.” The unconscious can alert the conscious player. Josh worked diligently with his coach to slow down and properly arm his intuition so he could harness all his preparation and knowledge at the critical moments of competition.
Finally, we come to George Mumford’s Mindful Athlete, where he explains the secret to winning any game lies in not trying too hard in the moment. To unlearn the bad habits that get in the way of intuition. Many players have extraordinary strength and skill but lack the ability to be present in the moment, to have relaxed concentration. Mumford guides us to prepare, practice, and visualize so when big moments arrive we can tap into pattern recognition & trust our intuition.
Health
According to futurist Ray Kurzweil, longevity will hit escape velocity after 2029. In other words, we should expect dramatic increases in life expectancy as technology delivers over one year of additional life for each year lost. Perhaps you are terrified of Ray’s description of Singularity where human and artificial intelligence merge by 2045. Kurzweil depicts this new world not as the death of humanism but rather its fullest flowering.
Welcome to the DecisionBalance newsletter where I share insights, questions, and reading recommendations. I coach asset managers, artists, and start-up founder/CEOs to set goals, improve performance, and find deeper meaning in their work.
