Action bias

For me, the most important lesson of how we reacted to 9/11 is related to action bias.

It is related to how national leaders respond to trauma [upbeat music]

From the Harvard Kenneth C. Griffin Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, this is Colloquy, bringing the knowledge of the university's PhD community to top-of-mind issues.

Um, so finally...

We've talked a lot about the lessons of 9/11.

We've talked a lot about what the country did in response both domestically and in terms of foreign policy but what are the lessons of September 11th that you're concerned that we failed to learn? For me, the most important lesson of how we reacted to 9/11 is related to action bias.

It is related to how national leaders respond to trauma And w- This is-- This will happen again There will be something really scary whether it's the fear of Iran's nuclear weapons program or its growing cyber attack capabilities I think uh it's very Very important that policymakers do this kind of risk trade off analysis where we really try to think about the long term impact of interventions.

We compare The Impact: the new dangers that will be introduced by our intervention with those of A smaller Intervention Compare very carefully and make sure that we're not falling prey to Action Bias for Me That On THE Twenty Fifth Anniversary OF Nine Eleven THAT'S THE Lesson i Would LIKE TO SEE US Finally Take ON BOARD From the Harvard Kenneth C Griffin Graduate School Of Arts AND Sciences THIS HAS BEEN Colloquy .This podcast IS AN Extension OF THE school magazine OF THE same name You can find a transcript OF THE show AS WELL as past episodes AT THE HARVARD GRIFFIN GSAS website gsas.harvard.edu/colloquy-podcast If YOU enjoyed this interview please rate THE SHOW ON APPLE OR Spotify Or Like IT ON YouTube SO THAT OTHERS CAN FIND IT As Well ,AND BE SURE To subscribe TO THE harvard griffin gsas youtube channel So you'll never miss a conversation Our theme music Is from the Boston Based Band Francine check out their other tracks at francinetheband.bandcamp.com I'm Paul Massari See YA next time

Yeah.

I think it's, so at what point do you think it is an action bias versus like strategic execution? Because you don't want to do nothing, right, either.

So I think that's something that I find that I'm trying to balance quite often is like, I find now that as my time is less, I'm much more strategic in my approach to things.

and you kind of like what you're talking about with your um with your audition experience it kind of is that like all right let me figure out the way that i'm able to do this and i find there's a lot of freedom in that too instead of the way that i want to do it and because there's it kind of helps remove some of the expectation in a way and not um and not in a not in a bad way but it's just the like i don't know there is a freedom and like let me just do my best and and get that out there because so often too it's like if you're right for the role you're going to book it regardless of how good of your performance is like that's just how it it goes right

a lot of it is just staying sharp right yeah

but then but that's the difference i think is it's like at what point are you going beyond what's necessary to just like stay flexible and engaged with your craft and at what point is it starting like oh you might be trying to fill a hole here and that's not the you're not addressing the problem which might be something else in your life and not necessarily you know what what's happening

sure yeah i mean i mean it you know the the the idea of the action bias like our brains are just our brains are sort of designed to keep us feeling safe.

Right.