evaluated every possible piece of information that he could.
Deliberate thinking is a wonderful tool when we have the
luxury of time, the help of a computer, and a clearly defined
task, and the fruits of that type of analysis can set the stage for
rapid cognition.
The second lesson is that in good decision making, frugality
matters. John Gottman took a complex problem and reduced it
to its simplest elements: even the most complicated of
relationships and problems, he showed, have an identifiable
underlying pattern. Lee Goldman’s research proves that in
picking up these sorts of patterns, less is more. Overloading the
decision makers with information, he proves, makes picking up
that signature harder, not easier. To be a successful decision
maker, we have to edit.
When we thin-slice, when we recognize patterns and make
snap judgments, we do this process of editing unconsciously.
When Thomas Hoving first saw the kouros, the thing his eyes
were drawn to was how fresh it looked. Federico Zeri focused
instinctively on the fingernails. In both cases, Hoving and Zeri
brushed aside a thousand other considerations about the way
the sculpture looked and zeroed in on a specific feature that
told them everything they needed to know. I think we get in