I was asked last week about my thoughts on judgment.  Here goes:

Judgment (defn) – the ability to make considered decisions or come to sensible conclusions.

Judgment is what happens when INTELLIGENCE fueled by FACT GATHERING is curated by OUTCOME ASSESSMENT in an UNEMOTIONAL NON-EGOCENTRIC manner.

INTELLIGENCE – not just sheer brain power but also knowledge attained by personal experience and wordly observation.

FACT GATHERING – the detailed search for data relevant to understanding any question or situation or consequence.

OUTCOME ASSESSMENT – considered risk analysis of not only probable outcomes but also assessment of the severity of being both right and wrong.

UNEMOTIONAL/NON-EGO CENTRIC THINKING – a sterile examination of what is and what might be unfettered by scenarios you would like to believe or outcomes you would prefer to be true.

So if you buy into the above gating criteria – what does it take to “have good judgment”?

Raw smarts, worldly experience, native inquisiveness, deep capacity for research, the seeking out and consideration of diverse opinions,  level headed probability analysis, on-demand ego suppression and a willingness to see and deal with “what is” independant of what you want.

Some folks seem to have this instinctively – “gut feel” – but really they just do all of this better and faster than their peers.  Amazon wants its leaders to “Be Right A Lot” — i.e., make more decisions and be right more often in the decisions you make.

Good judgment leads to good decisions which lead to better outcomes. Pass it on.

Cheers.  DC