Quick Tips for Leaders from Dan Ariely
“Life is about tradeoffs.” -Dan Ariely, author of Predictably Irrational
A few years ago, I was searching for answers to a thorny professional problem. The problem wasn’t technical or financial, it was personal. I couldn’t make sense of some of the people at my workplace. A friend recommended that I read Predictably Irrational by Dan Ariely. The book completely opened my eyes to the biases of my colleagues (and myself).
When we started a podcast for the U.S. Navy’s Leadership and Ethics Center, I was thrilled to have the opportunity to interview Dan. His book is featured in the Navy Reading Program and his insights about leading people are invaluable. Here’s a quick recap of Dan’s tips for leaders. To see the whole interview on video, check out the YouTube video embedded below.
1. Create an organizational culture that is oriented toward ethical decisions. Dan says, “Life is about tradeoffs.” The story of ethics is a quest to for the best tradeoffs in conflicting human values. The question is how do we choose? For leaders, their role is to show what tradeoffs are acceptable. A leader must also recognize that people can make the wrong tradeoffs, but they must be forgiven. If your team lives in fear of making mistakes, they won’t function.
2. Build an environment where people are free. Set people up for success by making the right thing and the easy thing the same thing. If there are obstacles to doing the right thing, and a smooth path the wrong thing, that sets people up for failure. Dan explains that, “In the last 300 years, mostly we have become a little bit closer to Superman.” We have lights, air conditioning, and helicopters to make life easier, but mental life has become more complex. For example, the credit card makes it harder to exercise financial restraint. Make the tools and environments that help people with mental challenges.
3. Exemplify ethical behavior, or else. Dan designed an experiment where participants often cheat to get more money. In another version of this experiment, the facilitator asks for a bribe to help participants earn more money through the course of the experiment. In the bribing scenario, participants still cheated, but on the way out they also stole money from an envelope. Researchers concluded that one request for a bribe was enough to influence people to steal. This is your influence as a leader. One example can trigger widespread corruption.
For more from Dan Ariely, click here to check out the full episode on video.