I thought that if I gained more knowledge, I would be able to make decisions

When I cannot decide on something,
I often do some research.

Because I feel that if I know a little more,
I will be able to make a proper judgment.

Reading books.
Searching online.
Listening to people's opinions.
Lately, I even ask AI.

I cannot decide because I lack information.
If so, I should just learn more.

I had always thought that way.

But recently, the opposite happens too.

The more I research, the less I am able to decide...

Right after I read an opinion in favor and think, "I see,"
I read an opposing opinion and think, "I understand this side too."

So, how much more do I need to know
before I can make a decision?

While thinking about such things,
I read Jun Moriya's "Knowledge, Insight, and Courage of Meiji Businessmen."

Businessmen in an era without correct answers

The people appearing in this book are businessmen who lived through the Meiji era, such as Eiichi Shibusawa, Yataro Iwasaki, Kihachiro Okura, Zenjiro Yasuda, and Ichizaemon Morimura.

The Meiji era was a time when the systems we take for granted today, such as joint-stock companies, banks, and securities markets, were not yet fully established.

What Moriya depicts is
not just a story of "successful great men."

What they struggled with, how they thought,
and how they arrived at their own answers.

There is a phrase like this in the book.

"In an era where they didn't know how to find the answer, they found their own way of solving it."

This phrase
really stuck with me.

It's not about becoming a "correct person"

What is interesting is that the business leaders who appear in this book
are not all the same type.

Teigo Iba was known as a person of high moral character.

On the other hand, Kihachiro Okura was described as a "great man but of poor character" and even as a "lion in the world of survival of the fittest."

Even so, both left behind significant achievements in the business world.

Mr. Moriya writes that the field of business has a depth that allows even those with extreme personalities to soar if they can find the right place to apply their strengths.

This was what I found interesting.

If I learn a lot, I will understand the right way of thinking.
And then, I will be able to make the right decisions.

At some point, I had imagined that was the order of things.

But looking at these people,
it doesn't seem that simple.

Even living in the same era, the answers they arrived at were different.

So, what did they rely on to make their decisions?

"Cleaning up the mess is the boss's job."

Reading this, I remembered the words of a former boss.

"Anyone can make a decision when all the information is available.
The boss's job is to make a decision when it isn't, and then clean up the mess."

At the time, I was in a position to gather information for my boss to make decisions.

So, I heard those words as,
"That's true. Time and money aren't infinite. If we wait until all the information is gathered, work won't move forward."
That was about the extent of how I understood it.

But reading this book,
I've come to think that it was about something much deeper,
a discussion on "what it means to make a decision."

The information is incomplete.
There is a possibility that my decision is wrong.

Even so, I have to decide at some point.

And when it goes wrong,
instead of saying "because I didn't have that information"
or "because that person said so,"
I take responsibility for it myself.

Judgment and decision-making might be slightly different.

Judgment is deriving an answer from the materials gathered.

But decision-making is taking responsibility for an answer yourself when the materials alone do not provide one.

Of course, knowledge is necessary to make a judgment.

But,
if you wait until you have all the knowledge, you cannot make a decision.

Knowledge is necessary, yet knowledge alone is not enough to decide.

Deciding while still not knowing

At first, the question I had was,

“In an age where knowledge is so easily accessible, is knowledge really what we are lacking?”

that was it.

If you ask AI, it can tell you things you didn't know. It can list both the pros and cons. It can even suggest options you hadn't thought of yourself.

Moreover, if you say “look into it more,” it can keep on researching.

However, there is something a bit strange about this.

The fact that you can obtain an infinite amount of knowledge means you can also keep saying “I still don't have enough information.”

Gathering information can sometimes become a “reason not to decide yet,” rather than a way to decide better.

If that is the case, perhaps decision-making is not something you do after you understand everything.

Deciding even though there are things you don't know.

And if you are wrong, you clean up the mess. Haha

Even the business leaders of the Meiji era were not told the correct answers from the future.

The ones who know whether they were right or not are us, reading history after the fact.

When I started reading, I

was thinking,

"What do I need to know to make the right decision?"

But now, the question has changed a little.

How much can I still not know and yet still take responsibility for my own decisions?