In the "Psychology of Human Misjudgment," Charlie Munger, Warren Buffet’s long-time business partner, assembled a list of 25 psychology-based tendencies that, while often useful, often mislead.

Number 24 – Reason-Respecting Tendency.  There is in humans a natural love of accurate cognition and joy in its exercise. Thus, people learn best when they are given the correct reason for what is taught. The positive lesson, then, is to really think through reasons for giving orders and communicate these reasons to the recipient. The negative lesson is that scoundrels take advantage of this tendency all the time. For instance, have you ever waited in a line to make a copy, while someone jumped to the front of the line exclaiming, “I have to make a copy.”  Chances are that the scoundrel got away with it because he or she gave a reason. It was only later that your rational mind came to understand that it was hoodwinked by this tendency.

Number 25 – Lollapalooza Tendency – The Tendency to Get Extreme Consequences from Confluences of Psychological Tendencies Acting in Favor of a Particular Outcome. Say what? Basically, it is what cults will do to achieve a conversion. They’ll use any psychological trick in the book, and often many of them. But the tactic is not exclusive to cults. Persuasive people everywhere rely on this tendency to get what they want.

From Poor Charlie’s Almanack (2005), a compilation of the wit and wisdom of Charles T. Munger.

In the "Psychology of Human Misjudgment," Charlie Munger, Warren Buffet’s long-time business partner, assembled a list of 25 psychology-based tendencies that, while often useful, often mislead.

Number 22 - Authority-Misinfluence Tendency.  Munger provides a lot of examples of this one, but the gist is that there is a natural tendency to follow the leader - often without question and often with absurd results.  By virtue of his or her dominant position, the leader is given a very wide berth, and often too wide of a berth.  Be careful in your use of the position, and your actions in following another in that position.

Number 23 – Twaddle Tendency.  Twaddle – drivel, nonsense, prattle, rubbish – is something far too many people pour out at inappropriate times, interfering with the good work a leader is trying to promote. It’s not an innocuous annoyance; it’s damaging. Munger advises leaders to be aware of it and look to protect their best people from it.

From Poor Charlie’s Almanack (2005), a compilation of the wit and wisdom of Charles T. Munger.

In the "Psychology of Human Misjudgment," Charlie Munger, Warren Buffet’s long-time business partner, assembled a list of 25 psychology-based tendencies that, while often useful, often mislead.

Number 19 - Use-It-or-Lose-It Tendency.  I was like Munger in at least one respect...I used to be pretty good at calculus and I enjoyed it.  But once graduate school was over, I never practiced it.  Today, I couldn’t begin to solve a calculus problem.  Is this a great loss?  Munger argues it is.  First, the wise man engages in the practice of all his useful, albeit rarely used skills, as a sort of duty to better himself.  Second, if he reduces the number of skills he practices, and therefore the number of skills he retains, he will naturally drift into error from "man with a hammer tendency."  And third, his overall learning capacity will shrink.

Number 20 - Drug-Misinfluence.  Similar in destructive power to Number 11 - Simple, Pain-Avoiding Psychological Denial.  Munger comments little on this simply because he says its "destructive power is so widely known to be intense, with frequent tragic consequences for cognition and the outcome of life."

How does this come into play in the leadership experience?  First, with the leader.  It is the leader’s obligation to himself, his team, and his organization to make it a complete non-issue.  Second, it is the leader’s responsibility to be aware of how it might be at work undermining his or her mission.

Number 21 - Senescence-Misinfluence Tendency.  It is hard to get around the natural cognitive decay that occurs with age.  When very old, very few people are good at learning complex new skills.  They can, however, remain pretty good at maintaining intensely practiced old skills until late in life. Antidotes?  If it’s you we are talking about, make sure you continuously think and learn.  That can help stave off this effect.  If it’s someone else, be aware and manage around the issue.

From Poor Charlie’s Almanack (2005), a compilation of the wit and wisdom of Charles T. Munger.

In the "Psychology of Human Misjudgment," Charlie Munger, Warren Buffet’s long-time business partner, assembled a list of 25 psychology-based tendencies that, while often useful, often mislead.

Number 16 - Contrast-Misreaction Tendency.  Ben Franklin said, "A small leak will sink a great ship."  See, humans are very good at recognizing clear contrast.  And people exploit that.  We are very poor at discerning slight variation.  We don’t notice "small leaks."   And people exploit that.  And we make mistakes because of that. 

This tendency is exploited, for instance, by an automobile salesman who sells a stupid, terribly overpriced option for $1,000, because it pales in comparison to the $65,000 car the buyer just bought.  Low contrast - buyer thinks it’s insignificant.  Or by a real estate broker who first shows a potential buyer three awful homes, ridiculously overpriced, and then shows a merely bad home, at a price only moderately too high.  High contrast - buyer thinks he’s getting a deal.  On the domestic front, how about men who marry second wives who would be appraised as okay only in comparison to the first wife.   

Number 17 - Stress-Influence Tendency.  Light stress can improve performance, while heavy stress can cause disfunction.  The most common type of disfunction resulting from stress is depression.  Fortunately, there are a number of effective treatments for depression.  But what about the lesser known, equally insidious forms of mental breakdowns that result from stress?  A leader is well-advised to be aware of the stress-producing forces in his or her organization and learn to recognize, and protect against, cases where heavy stress begins to de-energize team members and, ultimately, the organization.   

Number 18 - Availability-Misweighing Tendency.  Echoing the words of the song, "When I’m not near the girl I love, I love the girl I’m near."  The tendency, with our limited capacity, is to work with what is easily available to us.  Antidotes: First, use checklists and procedures to keep you open to what is not near.  Second, emphasize disconfirming evidence; look for ways to make the task more difficult.  Third, bring skeptics into the mix and make them challenge you.  Finally, underweigh the obvious - the near - and overweigh the les vivid evidence. On the positive side, look for ways to use this powerful tendency in others to your advantage  

From Poor Charlie’s Almanack (2005), a compilation of the wit and wisdom of Charles T. Munger.

Silences.  Your second task is to choose your silences carefully. As someone once said, the silences in music are as important as the sounds. The same is true in connected communication. If you are trying to persuade or inform the listener of something, slow your “pitch” down to a comfortable cadence so that your listener doesn’t feel like he or she is being pressured, has no opportunity to object, or has no voice. If your purpose is to learn, then you won’t learn much if you aren’t being silent and listening. Silence can be a powerful “vacuum” of information. People are generally uncomfortable with silence and naturally want to fill it. Unfortunately, the silence often invites mundane chatter, but at other times, it inspires the sharing of very valuable information. 

Nonverbal Messages.  Your third task is to choose your nonverbal messages carefully. In my experience, the nonverbal messages are as important as the verbal ones. Unfortunately, many of them are either unintended or belie the verbal message. Pay close attention to your facial expressions, hand gestures, eye movement, and body posture. For instance, not looking someone in the eye will often completely undermine your sincerity. You may feel that staring at something in the distance is just a by-product of deliberate and intense thought, but your listener may feel you are being disingenuous. Conversely, staring right into their eyes as you deliver a promise is usually interpreted almost like a contractual seal.