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December 11, 2003
Economic Costs of America Unilateralism
New York Times economics columnist Jeff Madrick argued that American foreign policy hurts the domestic economy. In his role as the New School’s president, former U.S. Senator Bob Kerry was the master of ceremonies for this lecture, which is the first of a series of NASDAQ Economic Policy seminars.
Madrick sounded like a West Village liberal complaining about the Bush Administration. He complained about U.S. unilateralism dealing with the Iraq conflict, the ABM Treaty, Kyoto environmental protocol and differences from Clinton’s policies. Madrick said negative opinions about America will hurt international trade. While this argument is plausible, are consumers really making buying decisions based on these feelings?
A more believable hypothesis is that foreign policy has increased international instability and increased worldwide defense spending. More danger and risk means higher trading costs and decreased investment. Madrick also stated that increased defense spending means governments allocate less money for everything else.
Unfortunately, Madrick did not go into the numbers. The presentation was heavy on rhetoric and light hard facts.
Posted by lawrencehecht at 08:33 PM | Comments (0)
December 04, 2003
Society of Competitive Intelligence Professionals Monthly Meeting
Ben Gilad, Ph.D., President of the Academy of Competitive Intelligence, gave a presentation about why executives do not use competitive intelligence. Psychological bias causes many executives to overlook facts and logic. Faulty thinking arises when a personal quality dominates a person’s other forms of cognition. Blind spots in decision making process. Greed, opinion, routine, ego, emotion, success and hope are the most common dominant ways of thinking.
Do blind spots affect your client or boss’s judgment? When you asked his opinion about something, did he dismiss the idea offhand? Is “if it is not broken, don’t fix it” the operating motto? Does your boss make decisions based on fear of failure? Is your client ever satisfied?
No matter how good the information, executives often ignore the risks and opportunities presented in a report. So, provide actionable recommendations, but don’t forget to present your findings so that your audience actually listens.
Posted by lawrencehecht at 08:08 PM | Comments (0)
