I am not sure the point was to use your gut in group decision making without justification. The point is how critical it is to understand the role that thin slicing plays in our decisions and judgments. Awareness allows us to try and channel it as an asset and make sure it is not sabotaging the desired goal either.

If one is in a position where he needs to justify his decision to a group, then he should fall under the category of expert where he can translate what is behind the locked door into words like the food critics or the experienced cops.

Even the museum example was not saying to blindly trust the experts over the scientists. However, it was a call to not blindly trust the scientists, discounting the instincts of veterans who have seen tons of authentic pieces and fake ones.

Your summary seems to have missed the point a bit IMHO, because even in your own decision making you should not rely on your own thin slicing unless you feel comfortable that the success factors are present. For example, you might think your gut is at work but you really have too much irrelevant info clouding your judgment. Or a new situation may be so stressful that you’re in severe survival mode, restricting your blood flow and ability to perceive the relevant info.

The book is a great read but additionally, I think it is an important piece to add to the business literature, opening the eyes of managers, cops, emergency workers, or anyone who often performs evaluation as part of their profession.

Lunt: I’m glad you liked the summery. Hopefully I’ll find the time to write short-summaries of other books I read. It’s pretty instructive re: solidifying in my own mind what I’d just read, and it focuses my reading if I know I’ll want to be able to write about when I’m done.

Even though it’s a different slant, it reminds me of “The Gift of Fear” by Gavin De Becker. He talks about how society pressures cause people to actually suppress their gut instincts, which can put them in danger, etc. In either case, validating one’s instincts is not always an option.

On one hand, Gladwell points out how great the gut instinct can be and on the other hand, he points out several cases where our gut instinct is in total error or contradictory to what our conscious values might be.

Personally, I may use these concepts a little, but in group decision making this doesn’t work. I’m pretty sure that your career will be short-lived if you make a decision, and when you are asked why you made that decision… you answer… “Well… it just came from my gut… I really can’t tell you why.”

I personally think that instincts should always be followed up with validation. Its only a question of how much validation is necessary.