Why Your Brain Is a Dumpster Fire (And What to Do About It)

Why Your Brain Is a Dumpster Fire (And What to Do About It)

Humans love to believe we're rational creatures. Spoiler: we are not. Our brains are squishy little drama machines that get tricked by sunshine, cardboard, and likes on social media. Case in point: according to a June 9, 2025, article in The Economist, investors actually make higher bids on stocks when the weather’s nice. And if you take a plastic product and wrap it in a bit of brown paper? Suddenly it’s “eco-friendly.” Even more tragic: sharing an article about investing makes people feel smarter — so they take riskier investment decisions — even if they didn't understand half of what they just reposted.

We are, as a species, extremely lucky that the planet hasn't filed for divorce yet.

The article leans on the work of Olivier Sibony, a decision-making expert at HEC Paris, who gently (okay, not gently) reminds us that we are blind to our own blind spots. Biases don’t just disappear because you know they exist — it’s like trying to will your eyes to stop falling for optical illusions. You can’t just say “no, thank you” to cognitive bias. The trick, Sibony says, is not to fight it solo. It's about building systems — especially in organizations — that catch your brain before it leaps off the logic cliff.

And that’s where the good stuff starts: The Economist lays out three juicy questions every business (and honestly, every confused entrepreneur with a Wi-Fi connection) should ask to make smarter decisions.

1. What kind of decision is this?

Jeff Bezos, overlord of Amazon and destroyer of brick-and-mortar bookstores, had a handy metaphor: there are one-way doors and two-way doors. A one-way door means a decision you can’t easily undo — it’s big, scary, and permanent-ish. A two-way door? That’s a decision you can reverse if it sucks. For those, it’s better to move fast and break things (ideally not laws).

Starbucks’ Pumpkin Spice Latte — yes, the seasonal drink that launched a thousand Instagram captions — was a two-way door. Focus groups weren’t into the idea (because “pumpkin in a cup” does sound like a prank), but internally, Starbucks had faith. Michelle Gass, now CEO of Levi’s, said it best: “Very few things have irreparable consequences if you’re wrong.” In other words, chill out. Most decisions aren’t defusing a bomb. Try it, learn, fix it.

But this all hinges on leadership being okay with backtracking. If your boss treats every change like a personal betrayal, congrats, you’re stuck in a one-way haunted hallway.

2. Who gets to decide?

Decisions go off the rails fast when no one knows who’s in charge. That’s why companies create frameworks with fun acronyms like RAPID and RACI — which, yes, sound like indie bands but are actually ways to avoid chaos. RAPID stands for Recommend, Agree, Perform, Input, and Decide. (Not in that order, but corporate acronyms care not for your logic.)

Still, you can have all the charts and spreadsheets you want — if Karen in upper management swoops in last-minute and overrides everything, then congratulations, you’re in the “BIG CHEESE” system. And no one likes that dairy surprise.

That’s why The Economist highlights companies like Supercell, a Finnish game studio where individual teams can cancel entire projects, no matter how long they’ve been in development. Yep. Actual control. Revolutionary. It’s not everyone’s jam, but the clarity around who gets to decide — and who doesn’t — is pure gold.

3. How do we make the decision?

Let’s be real: some decisions don’t need a sacred ritual. But big ones? They deserve a little structure. Sibony suggests techniques like a pre-mortem, where you imagine everything has gone horribly wrong and figure out what caused the mess before you make the move. It’s morbid, yes, but wildly effective.

You don’t need a 73-slide deck, but you do need some hygiene. Sibony puts it like this: “When you wash your hands, you don’t know specifically which virus or bacterium you are washing away, but you know it’s a good idea.” Same deal with decisions — you won’t always know what bias you’re scrubbing out, but a clean process helps.

Final Thoughts (aka TL;DR for the Skimmers)

If your brain had a user manual, it would say, “Prone to nonsense. Handle with systems.” We’re not built to make flawless decisions — we’re built to survive long enough to make more bad ones. But with the right questions, a little structure, and some humility (gross, I know, but not really), we can get better.

Credit to The Economist's article “A Checklist for Decision-Making” (published June 9, 2025) and to Olivier Sibony, whose brain is clearly less of a dumpster fire than the rest of ours. I just added the sass and the PSL (pumpkin spice latte) slander. Want to read the article in its true form check it below.

https://www.economist.com/business/2025/06/09/a-checklist-for-decision-making