“Hmm, on slide eight, that third box on the right there. That somehow feels like it’s already covered by the other two. Should we replace it with something else, maybe?”
My colleague was right. I had already felt the third box didn’t fit myself. Twice, actually. Once when looking over the deck for the second time, and then again just now, while presenting the topic to him. We were working on a pitch about blockchain together—ideally one our ambassadors can easily understand themselves and then convincingly share with others.
When I first drafted that particular slide, it seemed to fit perfectly with the case study that followed. “Traceability, authenticity, and sustainability.” Those were three of the benefits blockchain could unlock, I claimed. But, as my coworker rightly pointed out, any lift in eco-friendly effects is usually more up to, first, which blockchain you choose, and, second, how much more efficient it makes your operations. It’s a consequence, not a feature. Ergo, the right box must go.
Confirmation bias is when we’re seeking information that tells us exactly what we want to hear. Usually, it’s described as a bad pattern we must combat to think properly and weigh all sides of a situation. There are moments, however, when confirmation bias actually pushes you in the right direction. Whenever your gut is already telling you that something feels off, for example.
In well-founded moments of doubt, we don’t need someone to tell us it’ll all be fine. We don’t want to gloss over our negative intuition, which is stronger and more accurate than our instinctive enthusiasm. Instead, we want to feed it with information—and if that information confirms we should take a second look, what’s the harm? Chances are, the end result will be more polished for it. And if the alarm is false, at least we’ll have made doubly sure.
There’s a time and a place for everything—even confirmation bias.
