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Echo Chambers, Bubbles, and Confirmation Bias

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I love this observation by Adam Grant:

“Confirmation bias is twisting the facts to fit your beliefs. Critical thinking is bending your beliefs to fit the facts.

“Seeking the truth is not about validating the story in your head. It's about rigorously vetting and accepting the story that matches the reality in the world.”

In an increasingly data-driven world, we have to be wary of our biases and blind spots more than ever. There’s always data we can cherrypick and an echo chamber to listen to that will reinforce whatever we already believe.

This is rampant in business and life. Social media is particularly susceptible to echo chamber group think. Some of the marketing “truisms” that get passed along as dogma gain traction because of these echo chambers.

Adam Grant expanded on confirmation bias in his 2021 book “Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don't Know.” He suggested business norms to help dismantle echo chambers. One I liked in particular was to deliberately create a “challenge network” of voices that disagree with you.

As Adam put it:

“We learn more from people who challenge our thought process than those who affirm our conclusions. Strong leaders engage their critics and make themselves stronger. Weak leaders silence their critics and make themselves weaker.”

Keynote Speaking

After a Summer pause, my keynote speaking schedule picks up again this Fall, starting with Optimizely Opticon25 in NYC on September 10 and London on September 30. I’m speaking at a slew of private company events the next few months and I’m also looking forward to BAM Marketing Congress in Belgium on December 4/5.

As always, please let me know if you’d like to talk about any events you’re planning (or know of) that you think could be a good fit.

For an idea of my approach to keynotes, here’s a full 45-minute keynote from one of my favorite events last year — the Gartner CMO Symposium in Denver.

Cartoon From The Archives

Here’s a related cartoon I drew in 2014 about one of my favorite business expressions: the HiPPO or “Highest Paid Person’s Opinion”:

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Thank you for all of your support (and cartoon material)!

-Tom

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About Marketoonist

Marketoonist is the thought bubble of me, Tom Fishburne. I first started drawing cartoons as a student in the Harvard Business School newspaper (not quite as well-known for humor as the Lampoon) and later started this newsletter from a General Mills cubicle in 2002. The cartoons have followed my career ever since. I poke fun at the ever-changing world of marketing and business because I believe that laughing at ourselves can help us do our best work.