In praise of good judgment

We hear a lot about good judgment these days, and the political scene seems overflowing with bad examples in that category. One just needs to take a look at some of the proposed Trump’s Cabinet members, Biden’s pardon of his son or Macron dissolving the French Parliament. 

So, let’s revisit what good judgment really is. It seems to me that it refers to the ability to make sound decisions and form valuable opinions. This, of course, involves quite a bit of time, experience, preparation, research and just hard work. 

First, I firmly believe there’s a lot of good old commonsense in that trait. Without it there can’t be any good judgment. Before we jump to it though, we should first consider various factors and evidence, doing some critical thinking by analyzing information objectively and identifying potential biases. We must also trust our own instincts and gut feelings, especially in complex situations. 

I would add that we must make choices that align with our personal values as well as goals, and also our societal norms, never let our judgment be just emotional, and always take the long view in considering the potential consequences of our decisions over time.

Then, we must make sure we’ve got the time and resources available to make our judgment come to fruition. The big component that I’ve left for last is experience or our ability to draw on past experiences to inform future decisions. It is said that good judgment comes from experience, and a lot of that comes from bad judgment, something that’s also probably true! 

Good judgment has a lot of moving parts to it. In closing, we must always remember that good judgment is our ability to make informed, rational, and responsible choices that lead to positive outcomes.