In this instructional YouTube talk, Scott Watson alerts leadership teams to five common cognitive biases that can undermine decision‑making: authority bias, optimism bias, sunk‑cost fallacy, the curse of knowledge, and groupthink. For each bias he explains how it manifests in organizations, why it can be harmful, and offers concrete "leadership moves"—practical questions and behaviors leaders can adopt to surface, challenge, and mitigate the bias. The overall message is that by deliberately asking probing questions, simplifying communication, reassessing resource commitments, and encouraging constructive dissent, leaders can prevent costly mistakes and foster healthier, more effective team dynamics.
Chapters
If you are part of a leadership team, be on the lookout for these 5 biases. Not spotting them could cause you and your colleagues and your organisation a headache immediately or further down the line. Number 1: Authority bias. This is the tendency to be unduly influenced by the opinions, judgments, and decisions of an authority figure. Often in an organisation, the authority figure is the more senior or most senior leader, but not always. The authority figure can actually be someone who holds no formal authority in your organisation but is a subject expert. This formal position and subject expertise do not, though, mean that questions shouldn't be asked and that proactive, positive challenge should be waived for the sake of blind compliance. Leadership move: ask questions, present your perspective, clarify opinions that may be presented as facts. Get clarity. Number 2, optimism bias. This is the tendency to overestimate the likelihood of a positive outcome being achieved. This could be a business-critical project with a crazy deadline attached to it, which is deemed to be a stretch goal, or it could be a heavy financial investment in a new technology platform because being early adopters puts your organisation ahead of the competition. Leadership move: Ask what needs to be in place for this level of optimism to be underpinned with prudent planning, accurate forecasting, and resource availability, whether it be people or financial. Positively question and challenge assumptions. Remember to explore what the worst-case outcome is and how your organisation can work towards avoiding that. Give some balance. Number 3, sunk cost. This is the tendency to cling on to things that have already cost you and your team or your organisation something, and it's not proving beneficial. When you've invested time, energy, money, resources in something that isn't working, letting go of it and realising it's time to stop can feel like a big punch in the stomach. It can hurt. Personal pride, even collective embarrassment of having to do a U-turn, can play a part. What's the leadership move? Ask yourself, if we were starting this project today, what would be the most prudent use of the organisation's resources? People, financial, technology? You might just uncover some new thinking that can add even more value and reduce or remove the risk of things going pear-shaped. Number 4, the curse of knowledge. The tendency to think that because you understand something in detail, everyone else should understand it too. To your level of detail. It's easy to become frustrated with a colleague or peer group that just doesn't seem to be getting it. They're not understanding the seemingly simple and straightforward information or recommendation you're sharing with them. The challenge: it's easy to forget that not everyone is like you and not everyone may have your level of knowledge, expertise, or interest in a specific area. But they do need to develop at least some understanding of the subject so a decision can be made. Leadership move: Simplify your communication. Check for understanding regularly to ensure it's making sense for them. Ask for questions from your counterpart or counterparts and be patient in your responses. Help it make sense. Be clear on the bare essentials your counterpart might need to understand rather than the war and peace level of detail that you may want to provide. Create understanding, clarify understanding before moving on. 5. Groupthink: the tendency for the social dynamics of the group to take priority over focus on achieving the best outcomes for the group or organisation. A desire for harmony in relationships can really override the need for positive disagreement, positive challenge, which can be healthy. They can help your team make high-quality decisions on behalf of your organisation, But if you or other members of your leadership team fail to communicate critical information or draw attention to fundamentally flawed thinking or decision-making, you're going to fail. You fail to serve your organization effectively. What's the leadership move? Ask questions. Call things out positively. The thing is with groupthink, it's usually to do with empathy and desire harmony. But disharmony does not mean conflict. So just have a think about how can I ask this question? How can I draw attention to something? How can I produce or share an alternative perspective to add value without it causing disharmony? Be aware that if you remain silent, nobody can learn anything. Nothing will change. Communicate. So those are just 5 biases that I often see in leadership teams and leadership groups. They're quite easy to manage when we draw attention to them. They're quite easy to produce alternative ways of looking at situations and permissions in relationships if you communicate.
