Information is our Friend

Information + Critical Thinking = Best Decision = Better Life

The Influential Leadership Advisory

Information is our friend, if we apply critical thinking.

Information is our enemy if we are switched off…

Where we are

The first five Leadership Notes of 2025 comprise a series on how to make resolutions (decisions) stick:

Note 01.25 advises of the necessity to set a strategic end-goal—the ‘why’ and what’ of the decision.
Note 02.25 sets up the imperative of action, to take the first step towards the end-goal.
Note 03.25 takes a step back to prise open the question of what defines a smart decision.
Note 04.25 introduced critical thinking as the key ingredient to ensuring smart decision making.
Note 05.25 reflects that the volume of information in the Info-Age is our friend, if we apply critical thinking!

The Information Age is Better!

You might wonder, ‘Better than what?’

Plain old propaganda.
A single piece of information.
A solitary source of information.
Jaundiced (biased, distorted, skewed, untested) information.
Because the parent, preacher, teacher, boss, bully or dictator said so…

The Information Age has its genesis in the mid-20^th century.

Underlying the Info-Age is humans’ technical capability to create, collect and disseminate information from many sources. In the 21^st century every human with a device connected to the WWW becomes a ‘source of information’ (if words and opinions are defined as information).

Today humans have access to limitless information from multiple sources. The credibility of information and its sources range from pure junk to trustworthy.

More information, in principle, is a better position to be in than one characterised by constrictions in variety and sources, as was the case in earlier times.

In the past it was easier for a handful of people with power and authority to create opinions and ideas on moral, social, political and economic matters that they could impose on an information blind society.

So, things should be better now that we have all the world’s information at our fingertips?

Not necessarily.

Even though we have access to the universe of information, manipulation still happens, and poor decisions are still made—if we are switched off.

Billions of people are still deceived into ideas, opinions and beliefs that have no substance in fact. And we are all prone to poor decision-making because of the volume of information with no toolset to interrogate it so we can make sound judgements.

Critical thinking is the Key to Wading Through Information to Deliver a Smart Decision

Let’s be reminded why we want to make smart decisions.

Refer to Leadership Note 01.25 here.

In brief:

Making smart decisions that we stick to have the most productive consequences for our lives, and we all want better lives!

In Strength lies Vulnerability that must be Managed

Inherent in the power and benefits of the Info-Age lies a material challenge, which is:

How do we process so much information, often exhibiting great contradictions, to get to the best truth possible?

Social Agency

The Influential Leadership System process is founded on Social Agency, which is people’s capability to:

Think critically,
Choose smartly, and
Act productively.

These three ingredients are the essential elements to smart decision-making of any form, but in this Note we focus on the first one as it is the foremost element that lets us cut through the Info-Age overload.

Applying Judgement

In Leadership Note 03.25 we presented a comprehensive definition of making smart decisions that contains the phrase, “to make a judgement…”.

The word ‘judgement’ paraphrases much of what critical thinking implies; also, because most of us have a sense of its meaning in a legal setting, it is a useful analogy of the critical thinking process.

How a Judgment is Made

A judge makes a judgment by carefully considering all the evidence presented in a case, applying relevant laws and legal precedents, and reaching a decision based on their interpretation of the facts. In other words, the judge must be impartial. This process involves weighing the arguments from both sides to determine who is right and who is wrong. The decision is then articulated in a judgment, explaining the rationale behind it.

Key steps in a judge’s decision-making process:

Hearing the Case: The judge listens to the arguments presented by both parties, including witness testimonies and exhibits.
Analysing the Evidence: The judge evaluates the credibility and relevance of the presented evidence to identify key facts.
Applying the Law: The judge identifies the pertinent laws and legal precedents (principles) that apply to the case and interprets them within the context of the specific facts.
Reaching a Decision: Based on their analysis, the judge decides the successful party and the appropriate outcome for the case.
Writing a Judgment: The judge drafts a written opinion explaining their decision, including the reasoning behind it, which may be used for appeals (review).

Lessons for Getting to the Best Truth in the Info-Age

I highlight three key practices from amongst the dozen at play here:

Be and act like a judge in your own case: Be informed of the matter at hand. Listen. See. Facts. Evidence. Lessons from history. Look and apply enduring principles.
Apply your mind: Make an effort to understand the issue, to ask the right questions that inform your information gathering. Cross check, dig into the sources. Take your biases out of the equation. Imagine your blindspots. Let reason be the judge.
Take your time: Review, mull the matter over, and the bigger the decision the longer you should turn the matter over. A judge goes to his chambers, works through the material, sieves it, consults experts and similar legal cases. The judge recognises that their judgement could hold a life.

Be neither intimidated by the volume of information nor fall prey to the loudest or often-repeated information—apply your sound judgement for smart decisions to obtain the best outcomes.

Be the best judge in your life and leadership practices, they depend on you. By applying your Social Agency, you can make the smartest decisions stick, for the better.

Regards,
Colin @ Karoo
Influential Leaders Exercise Judgement!

Leadership Note # 0525 | 03.02.25
e: colind@karoo.world
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