Lobbyists and their clients (both for-profit and not-for-profit) are often plagued by cognitive bias.
We see the world we want it to be and prefer to confirm our existing beliefs. It does not help that our existing beliefs are often false. Basing decisions on our cognitive biases can lead to bad decisions.
We jump to conclusions, assume political groups will side one way, when they will act the other, and hope that ‘our country’s leader’ will sort everything out for us, despite no evidence to show this will work. We often believe that the other parties working on a file see the world as we do and agree with our facts. Many think that they are seen as ‘trustworthy’, when the main players on a file don’t believe them. A common one is the yelling effect. If we just shout loud enough, people will hear us and change their minds.
If we can recognise our cognitive bias, we have a chance to escape our self-imposed delusions. When we can at least recognise, if not put on hold, our self-imposed cognitive biases, we stand a better chance of dealing with reality.
How many do you carry?
This is a useful list and visual.