"Accuracy" as a Decision-Maker

First see “How Your Mind Makes Decisions”

Introverted Thinking (or what we’ve nicknamed Accuracy) is the part of us that asks, “Does this make sense?” When data is incongruent or when it doesn’t add up, you’re using Accuracy to sort it out. When you make a decision based upon consistent, solid facts, you’re using Accuracy as decision-making criteria.

Examples:

“It doesn’t really matter if it’s my boss, he was totally incorrect in his assertion that receiving co-paid insurance should ingratiate us to this company and as a way to ‘pay back’ we should volunteer for overtime. It doesn’t matter if our performance will be graded upon it. I’m not going to volunteer, and I’ll defend my position in my next interview. Status doesn’t justify manipulating facts or people.”

“Happiness is a noble human endeavor, but the way to happiness is mostly systemic. If you create the conditions of happiness, then it will be the natural emergent property. We should look at the components of happiness starting with the ‘nodes’ in the system, the largest influencers, alter to them to ideal conditions and see if happiness emerges.”

Accuracy-driven people are far more driven by facts than people. In fact, sometimes other people seem like data points to an Accuracy user, though they aren’t necessary cold-hearted. Seeking Truth is the ultimate virtue, but Truth is subjective (as any Accuracy person will tell you). That means sorting through a lot of ideally unpolluted data to see as clear a picture as possible. People’s emotions are sticky – definitely not ‘unpolluted’. So, when it comes decision time everyone’s emotions take a back seat.

At best, Accuracy tells truth without judgment. It’s not trying to determine what’s good or bad, just what makes sense. If you’re mistaken and an Accuracy person corrects you, it’s not personal. They honestly would want that information themselves and so they expect you want it, too. Some of the clearest thinkers of the past have been Accuracy driven – Einstein, among them. The concept of “Radical Honesty” is most assuredly an Accuracy person’s project. When we tell each other the truth without judgment, we don’t have to hide from ourselves or our insecurities any more. We face life as it is fully and work with what we’ve got, not with what we wish we had. We also master the secrets of the universe through careful, uncorrupted study. This leads to knowledge that blows us away, and helps us gain perspective through these amazing journeys of science and discovery.

At their worst, an Accuracy person is a know-it-all, cavalierly questioning every conclusion they did not personally come to in order to prove the superiority of their ‘information’. Since they don’t have other people’s emotions on their radar, they can be socially crass and inconsiderate, sometimes down-right hurtful. Masters of data and information, they can see themselves as not benefiting from other people’s information any longer and so zoom too far in on what they already know instead of gathering new, imperative data. They pollute their information, not by introducing sticky elements, but by completely ignoring relevant details.

In order to make the best decisions, Accuracy people should remember a couple of things. First, being open-minded is the quickest path to Truth, whatever that ends up meaning. Dismissing others for being less ‘rational’ than you is a pretty irrational way of culling data. Anyone, anywhere, anytime can teach you grand truths, and so keep your antennae on alert. To do the opposite only makes you what you hate the most – ignorant.

Second, be careful not to ignore the importance of context when studying content. True, sometimes context can get in the way of a train of thought. But information is always part of a bigger spider web of connected ideas and theories, so make sure you’ve at least taken that into consideration before you study just a few strands. Don’t mistake mastery for accuracy.

Accuracy people tend to have a blind spot in Harmony.

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