All business proceeds on beliefs or judgments of probabilities, and not on certainties.
Charles Eliot – President Harvard University
Decision making in COVID time is changing. Fashionable acronyms are coined for today’s dominant decision making paradigms, which seem to be fear and anxiety based. Let’s look at a few:
FOBO, the Fear Of Better Options, means that VUCANs can’t make a final decision because they relentlessly pursue the dream of capturing and experiencing all options. This eventually leads to decision paralysis and huge regret.
FOMO, the Fear Of Missing Out, was a popular pre COVID decision making option. It means that workers are continuously searching for and fearing not being part of the next big thing, great experience, investment opportunity, or social interaction. Has COVID killed FOMO? Hmm. Human closeness and belonging norms have changed. So, what about sex, friends, sports, travel, etc? What are you doing or going differently?
In during COVID time, it’s now FODA. FODA, the Fear Of Doing Anything, is a do-nothing or risk avoidance approach to anxiety based, decision making. We’ve all been there. You’ve seen the thousand-yard stare or the deer-in-the-headlights look. Distancing is in (Fear of Going Out). For college kids, FOMO has becoming Fear of Moving Out. COVID fear is overwhelming. Should I fly? Should I go to the store? You don’t have enough information. You don’t believe you can make a good decision. You’re overwhelmed with FEAR. There are too many unknowns and unknowables. [i]
Work Lesson Earned: FOMO, FOBO, and FODA are real for VUCANs. They are reactive forms of decision making. They don’t result in good choices. Jay Samit in Disrupt You said: “Disruption isn’t about what happens to you, its’ about how you respond to what happens to you”. [ii] Your career management in the Future of Work should be based on making smart choices. Are you: 1. Risk taking; 2. Risk-sensitive; or 3. Risk-averse? Each of these specific lens or filter that may bias, color, or distort your vision of life, work, career, and job.
[i] ‘How to Beat FOBO, From the Expert Who Coined It’, New York Times, July 30, 2018.
[ii] Disrupt You, Jay Samit, 2015