Please Critique this essay and suggest improvements!

[shubha2110]

"In making a complex decision, one should trust experience more than instinct."
Discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the position stated above. Support your viewpoint using reasons and examples from your own experience, observations, or reading.

YOUR RESPONSE:
The debate on whether to trust our instinct or our experience when taking a complex decision has received considerable attention by psychologists and brain experts. Though both instinct and experience go hand in hand in most decision making, from my experiences and decision-making prowess, I believe that instinct has a larger role to play. Instinct is what ones gut tells one to do even when there is evidence that goes against that decision. Experience carries with it the weight of several past situations and the learning from these experiences are held by the brain like a precautionary list to refer to when similar situations arise.

In case of complex decision making, typically the stakeholders are large in number and the impact of the decision may affect their lives dramatically. Hence, though learning from the past is important, the ultimate decision is to be taken based on the current scenario and its uniqueness as the dynamic interplay of a large number of different systems and communities involved are never constant in time. These can be functions of broad subjects like economics, geographies, climate and culture.

Given a complex situation, the best decision makers take them in the blink of an eye. They may study the data involved thoroughly and put to use some valuable learning but when it comes to actually stating "Go", they rely mostly on instinct. This is so because their heart has to be with the decision - it has to make the decision valid for the decision maker.
For instance, when Apple CEO, Steve Jobs decided to quit college and still stay back and study calligraphy, a subject he liked, it wasn't experience that helped him but his inner instinct to do so that eventually led to the creation of the wonderful typing fonts we take for granted in all computers today. The same man, when faced with the complex decision of restructuring the company ideologies after his comeback, took the instinctive decision to change the mindset out of which the company was operating at that time. When he decided to launch his new-age products with single minded belief and vision, it was due to his instinct.

Another example is of Gandhi. When he launched the Satyagraha movement during India’s independence movement, nowhere in the world had non-violence of this nature and scale been applied to achieve an objective. Yet, it was one man's belief, his innermost instinct, along with his ability to inspire and lead, that changed the tide.

When the president of a country has to take a decision on going to war, it is going to impact millions of lives. In these situations, the decision maker who relies on his instinct to inform him of the implications and consequences of his decisions does a much better job of it than one who doesn't. In conclusion, I would say that the best decisions are taken by instinct - especially if they are decisions that are to change the world and make it a better place.

Thanks
Subhashini!

[StaceyKoprince]

Hi, thanks for posting your essays! Just an FYI that instructors don't grade or give feedback on essays (see the forum guidelines for details).

But I certainly hope other community members respond. Also, if you're in our class, you'll have an opportunity to get essays graded and get written feedback during the course (after class 6). Finally, you can get essays graded by GMAT Write (the official essay grading service from the makers of the exam) - they'll both grade the essays and provide feedback as to how to improve (for a fee). For details and pricing, go to www.mba.com and search for GMAT Write.