![]() Galef suggests some tools for making better decisions: Galef says the scout mindset “keeps you from fooling yourself on tough questions that people tend to rationalize about.” Some workplace examples include: “Do I really have to fire that employee? How much do I need to prepare for that presentation tomorrow? Is it best for my company to raise a lot of new funding now or am I just tempted by the instant validation that raising funds would give me?” (p. We’re all some combination of the scout and the soldier, but can shift toward having a scout mindset more often. “You can see it in the way we rationalize away red flags in an exciting new relationship, and always think we’re doing more than our fair share of the work,” she writes, “When a coworker screws up, it’s because they’re incompetent, but when we screw up, it’s because we were under a lot of pressure.” (p. Galef contrasts this with the mindset of a soldier who seeks out evidence that supports their existing beliefs, and views being wrong as a defeat-a mindset rooted in a desire to preserve self esteem, avoid unpleasant emotions, motivate ourselves, and fit in socially. ix) The scout strives to create an accurate map, aiming to remove any false preconceptions or biases. She argues that we should strive to approach the world as a military scout might, with “the motivation to see things as they are, not as you wish they were.” (p. Sign up to receive these briefings by email for free here.) (You can read all of our book briefings here. Now Julia Galef has released The Scout Mindset, a book about intellectual honesty and how it contributes to better decisions (featuring a promotional blurb from Grant atop its cover.) Dubbed “ the tech elite’s favorite pop intellectual” by New York Magazine, Galef hosts the “Rationally Speaking” podcast and gave a widely viewed 2016 TED talk laying out the thesis for what would become her book. I wrote in January about Think Again by Adam Grant, which discusses how to rethink your own views and details the sometimes dramatic cost-the Space Shuttle tragedies, for example-of making decisions based on false beliefs and assumptions. So it’s perhaps not surprising that there’s a wave of new books that cover how to make better decisions. (Less so perhaps for classic assembly line factory work or moving packages around a warehouse.) From 2010 to 2015, she was a speaker for the Northeast Conference on Science and Skepticism.Good decision making is arguably the most critical skill for the modern knowledge worker or business leader. She gives public lectures to organizations including the Center for Inquiry and the Secular Student Alliance. Galef frequently speaks on rationality and moderates debates at skeptic conferences. Julia's 2016 TED Talk introducing the concept of scout mindset, "Why You Think You're Right - Even If You're Not" has been viewed over 6 million times. She has consulted for organizations such as OpenAI and the Open Philanthropy Project, and spoken at companies including Twitter, Cruise, MongoDB, Cisco, and BlackRock. Galef co-founded the Center for Applied Rationality, a nonprofit that helps people to internalize and use strategies based on the principles of rationality on a more regular basis to improve their reasoning and decision-making skills. Most episodes feature professionals with different perspectives on a topic, to try and triangulate a way to the truth. For over a decade, Julia has been the host of Rationally Speaking, a biweekly podcast featuring interviews with scientists and other thinkers to explore important issues with nuance and rigor. It’s about the skill of looking at things honestly and objectively - why that’s so valuable, why it doesn’t come naturally to humans, and how we can get better at it. In her book, The Scout Mindset: Why Some People See Things Clearly and Others Don't, Galef argues that a critical part of good judgment is motivation - are you motivated to defend your pre-existing beliefs against threatening evidence, or to figure out what's actually true? With fascinating examples ranging from how to survive being stranded in the middle of the ocean, to how Jeff Bezos avoids overconfidence, to how superforecasters outperform CIA operatives, Galef shows that what makes scouts better at getting things right isn't that they're smarter than everyone else. ![]() She is the president and co-founder of the Center for Applied Rationality. ![]() ![]() Julia Galef is an author, podcaster, and an acclaimed expert on rational decision-making. ![]()
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