The general theme of the book was that we have two systems of thought-fast thinking and slow thinking. Kahneman goes into detail about both, but basically fast thinking is automatic thinking that we use when we are doing things that don't require much thought, like small decisions or quick math problems, etc. Slow thinking is more in our control and we do it when we are concentrated and need to think logically about more complex things.
The book connected with this class because as an entrepreneur, there are many situations where you will have to think both fast and slow. For example, managers frequently have to do fast thinking when it comes to answering questions from employees and customers, doing routine tasks, and the like. The slow thinking when it comes to making decisions about the direction of the business and making a long-term strategic plan.
If I had to design an exercise, I would put together a sort of business simulation where students are presented with a bunch of small or large business problems and they will have to make fast and slow decisions, using all of the analytical thinking.
I was actually surprised by how much I learned about the way we think, and reflected on my own thought process when I make decisions. I think after reading this, I am more conscious of my decision-making and how I analyze situations.
This sounds like a great book to read. Learning about how we think and why we think helps us to analyze ourselves when we need to. It helps us to deal with stress and everything else we face. An example of fast thinking are those impulse buys at the grocery store or other check-out lines. It doesn’t take much thought to grab a packet of gum. Otherwise, long hard slow thinking can create innovative products and entrepreneurship ideas. We could even cure cancer!
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ReplyDeleteThis book was not one that was really on my scope to check out. But after reading your post this may be added to my reading list for the future. For your experiment I was thinking that a good idea for a fast decision would be picking odd things out of a group or real life fast decisions like choosing what to buy in stores. I like how this book seemed to be very influential and knowledge packed.
Hey McKenna! You have definitely made this sound like a book I should check out. There seems to be a lot that I can learn by reading it. The themes can apply to our everyday lives as well as the business world. Thanks for sharing!
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