What’s good judgment?

Good or sound judgment is a crucial quality in any leader, and one badly missed within our current American government. In the past I’ve always defined “good judgment” as a balance between common sense, experience and an ability to project consequences into the future. 

Part of it is what we mean with common sense for instance. In it, there’s adaptability and what we also call “critical thinking”, that ability to evaluate facts objectively, avoiding biases, and questioning assumptions. Common sense also includes a good dose of integrity and ethics, that is, choosing what’s right, not just what’s easy or beneficial. 

While the experience is invaluable as it educates us by drawing from past lessons and relevant information, as is the ability to anticipate outcomes and the long-term effects of our decisions.

One element I didn’t include though, is emotional intelligence, namely understanding emotions of the various parties involved in judging a situation without letting this fickle set of elements cloud and affect our reasoning. 

This domain is often harder to master because few of us have been trained to identify emotions well enough and develop effective responses to them. Like any living skills our judgment can be improved constantly by seeking diverse perspectives, and avoiding “echo chambers”. 

Also and mostly by learning from our mistakes, by slowing down when our emotions run high, staying well informed and training ourselves to distinguish facts from opinions. 

Poor judgment, in contrast, is impulsive, biased, or self-serving and is perfectly exemplified by Trump and his accomplices.