The CIA's manual for ruining things

Creativity & Communication

Make speeches. Talk as frequently as possible and at great length.

Haggle over precise wording of communications.

Bring up irrelevant issues as frequently as possible.

Refer back to matters already decided upon and attempt to question the advisability of that decision.

Be worried about the propriety of any decision.

Advocate caution and urge fellow conferees to avoid haste that might result in embarrassment or difficulties later on.

Refer all matters to committees.

Behavioural principles

Behavioural ideas at play in this post

Short, plain-English explanations of the principles behind this post, with links to related books and examples in the archive.

Processing fluency

Easy-to-process things feel truer, safer, and more appealing.

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Present bias

Immediate costs and rewards loom larger than future ones.

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Lateral thinking

Better solutions sometimes appear when we stop pushing through the obvious route.

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The CIA's manual for ruining things

Behavioural ideas at play in this post

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