Have you ever made a snap decision based on the information you had on hand, without considering other options?
This is called **availability bias** -
when we give more weight to information that's easy to access, even if it's not the most relevant or accurate.
A famous example of availability bias happened in 2007 when Nokia was the top mobile phone company.
You probably remember it, Nokia was a big deal 💥💥💥
Until Apple released the iPhone and Nokia didn't see it coming🙄
In a board meeting at Nokia, the members had to choose between two options: 1. making basic phones that have long battery life or 2. creating smartphones with advanced features.
Despite the popularity of smartphones at the time, the board was swayed by availability bias.
They thought Nokia's basic phones were still selling well and didn't want to change their successful business model.
Unfortunately, this led them to ignore the potential of smartphones.
This decision was disastrous for Nokia, as they lost their market share to competitors.
The company tried to catch up by developing smartphones, but it was too late.
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The Nokia case illustrates how a focus on existing solutions can block the way to new and potentially better ones.
We tend to make decisions based on our previous knowledge and experience rather than exploring new possibilities.
This kind of thinking can lead us to choose less effective strategies,
so watch out of the availability bias!
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