You would think being smart would protect you from making dumb decisions.

You would be wrong.

In this episode of Biz-Souls, Rona Lewis and Jeffrey Hansler take on one of the great mysteries of human behavior: Why do intelligent people sometimes make spectacularly stupid decisions?

And, because this is Biz-Souls, the discussion begins with Jeffrey limping into the conversation with an injured foot. Apparently, nothing - not pain, not common sense, and certainly not Jeffrey’s ability to stay on topic - is going to stop this podcast.

The real subject, however, is much more serious.

Smart people aren't necessarily better at avoiding bias. Sometimes they're simply better at defending the bias they've already chosen.

That's where things get interesting.

Rona and Jeffrey dig into confirmation bias, ego, overconfidence, rationalization, analysis paralysis, stress, fear of being wrong, and the wonderfully human tendency to surround ourselves with people who agree with us.

Because apparently one of the most dangerous sentences in business is, I already know I'm right.’

The conversation moves into leadership, where intelligence can become particularly dangerous when it's combined with ego and a lack of feedback. The hosts point to the Challenger disaster as a sobering example of very smart people participating in a very bad decision.

Then there's the social-media problem.

Give the algorithm one opinion you already hold and surprise! It can enthusiastically feed you 90 million more reasons why you're right. Soon you're not researching an idea. You're assembling a personalized evidence department whose only job is to agree with you.

And here's the uncomfortable part: Nobody is immune to cognitive bias. Not CEOs. Not scientists. Not doctors. Not podcasters. Not Jeffrey. Not Rona. And definitely not the person who just nodded vigorously while reading that last sentence.

The episode ultimately comes back to a deceptively simple leadership skill of self-awareness.

• Are you willing to question your own assumptions?

• Are you willing to hear information that disagrees with you?

• Are you checking yourself or merely looking for evidence that confirms what you already believe?

Because intelligence and rationality aren't the same thing. Being smart can help you solve problems. It can also make you remarkably creative at explaining why your bad idea wasn't actually a bad idea.

As Rona and Jeffrey discover, the goal isn't to eliminate bias—we're wired for it. The goal is to recognize it, challenge it, and occasionally admit that the person sitting across the table might actually have a point.

So, grab your favorite cognitive bias, put it in a nice little leadership suit, and join us for a conversation about smart people, dumb decisions, ego, algorithms, and the uncomfortable possibility that the person who needs to rethink the decision might be you.

And yes, Jeffrey's foot is still hurting. Apparently, even critical thinking has a deductible.

Make him feel better and like, subscribe, follow, and share this episode for medicinal purposes.

Related Biz-Souls Episodes:

Episode 61: Bias, Business, and Bad Ass Chris Rock

• https://open.spotify.com/episode/

• https://www.youtube.com/@biz-souls3926

Episode 125: How to Retrain Your Brain with Kelley Raleigh

• https://open.spotify.com/episode/6Sl8zVZB6Jx5DMHg8lN9aH

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PA4P9HvbKVI

Episode 136: Mature Gnome with Ego

• https://open.spotify.com/episode/4SrTBRzWZ9MbhycJw5Nkwv

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sl6sKzNUWTo

Episode 137: Just Say No! Maybe.

• https://open.spotify.com/episode/5O9pVnMLtrVRHfSrkE3dZn

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G0ffpbkA2n8

Episode 151: Bias in the Media

• https://open.spotify.com/episode/

• https://www.youtube.com/@biz-souls3926

Episode 201: Bayes, Brains, and the Breakdown of Internet Illusion

• https://open.spotify.com/episode/

• https://www.youtube.com/@biz-souls3926

Networking. Everybody says they’re good at it. Then you go to a conference, and someone walks up, hands you a business card, says, ‘Hi, I’m in real estate,” and immediately begins explaining the 14 things they sell’. Congratulations. You have just experienced ‘show up and throw up.’

In this episode of Biz-Souls, Rona Lewis and Jeffrey Hansler tackle the strange, wonderful, occasionally horrifying world of professional networking, and ask a question that sounds simple but turns out to be surprisingly complicated: Do professional relationships actually have to become friendships to be valuable?

Rona is, apparently, a networking machine. Put her in a room with 150 people and she’ll meet approximately 125 of them. Jeffrey, meanwhile, prefers fewer people, deeper conversations, and an inner circle he actually trusts.

So naturally, they agree. Except when they don’t.

And then they start talking about Kevin Costner, Dances with Wolves, influencers, background checks, business cards, trust, cocaine, reputation, and the fine art of deciding whether someone you just met is actually someone you should recommend to your clients.

Because networking isn't just about collecting contacts. It’s about knowing who you can trust when your reputation is attached to the recommendation.

And here's where the science gets interesting.

A massive study involving more than 20 million LinkedIn users found that weaker professional connections - people you know, but don't know particularly well - can actually be more useful for discovering new employment opportunities than your closest connections. The researchers found that these “weak ties” can expose us to information and opportunities outside our immediate circles.

In other words, that person you chatted with for seven minutes at a conference might be more useful to your career than the person you've known for 20 years.

Which is mildly insulting to your best friend.

It makes sense. Your closest friends probably know the same people, attend the same events, hear the same stories, and have access to much of the same information you do. Your casual acquaintance from London, however, may know someone who knows someone who can open an entirely different door.

Rona's networking philosophy suddenly has some serious science behind it. Jeffrey's response? Yes, and I'm still keeping my inner circle.

And honestly, that's probably the point.

You don't have to turn every business contact into a dinner companion. You don't have to invite everyone you meet into your life. And you definitely don't have to swap underwear with them. Yes, that somehow comes up in this episode. We have questions too.

You do, however, need to pay attention to people. How do they treat the waiter? How do they treat someone who can't do anything for them? Do they follow through? Do they know what they're talking about?

Are they trustworthy enough that you'd put your own reputation behind them? Because when you recommend someone, their behavior doesn't just reflect on them.

It reflects on you.

While this episode is about networking, it's really about something bigger: Relationships without pretending everyone has to become your friend.

It's about trust without naïveté. It's about being open to unexpected connections without being stupid about who you let into your professional orbit. And, perhaps most importantly, it's about asking better questions instead of immediately telling strangers what you sell.

So, share, follow, and subscribe to Biz-Souls and maybe, just maybe it might result in your next critical connection.

Related Biz-Souls Episodes

Episode 177: Margie Zable Fisher - Storytelling, Connection, and Authentic Influence

• https://open.spotify.com/search/Biz-Souls%20Episode%20177

• https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Biz-Souls+Episode+177+Margie+Zable+Fisher

You can put ‘People First’ on the wall. You can put, ‘Our people are our greatest asset!’ on the website. You can even give everyone a company mug that says, ‘Teamwork Makes the Dream Work’.

Eventually somebody must actually create a culture where people want to work.

In this episode, Rona Lewis and Jeffrey Hansler take on five warning signs that your company culture may be heading south.

And Jeffrey, apparently heading south himself, arrives looking like culture has already won.

The conversation starts with engagement or, more accurately, the disturbing lack of it.

Gallup’s latest global workplace research says only 20% of employees worldwide were engaged in 2025, while low engagement was associated with an estimated $10 trillion in lost productivity. Managers aren't exactly thriving either: manager engagement fell to 22%.

So, basically, congratulations! Your employees aren't engaged, your managers aren't engaged, and Jeffrey is so exhausted he may be engaging primarily with his pillow.

The five warning signs:

1. Engagement is alarmingly low

2. Managers shape culture far more than the mission statement does.

3. Managers themselves are struggling.

4. Curiosity may be one of our last human advantages.

5. Leaders may say they love curiosity—right up until somebody gets curious.

This may be the great cultural paradox. Leaders say they love innovation. They say they love creativity. They say they love people who ‘challenge the status quo.’ Right up until someone challenges their status quo.

Then suddenly curiosity becomes, ‘Why are you questioning this?’, ‘Who approved this?’, ‘Can't you just follow the process?’, and ‘Is there a reason you keep asking questions?’

The result is a culture where people learn very quickly that the safest employee is the employee who keeps their head down and their questions to themselves.

And then there's Jeffrey. Somewhere along the way, Jeffrey appears to have become the living embodiment of Episode 204, The Great Exhaustion.

Rona is discussing culture. Jeffrey is discussing culture. Jeffrey is also apparently conducting an unauthorized longitudinal study on what happens when a human being records too many podcasts.

At one point, the conversation wanders through Sarbanes-Oxley, middle management, AI, curiosity, Steve Jobs, Bear Bryant and the general human tendency to make things unnecessarily complicated. Which is, frankly, exactly why we have Biz-Souls.

The hosts eventually land on the real issue: Good culture isn't what you say. It's what people experience.

And the interesting part? Bad culture can be remarkably durable. The episode points to examples where the personality and behavior of a founder or leader can continue influencing an organization long after the person is gone.

The takeaway… If you want people to engage, don't just tell them to engage, give them something worth engaging with.

Have you ever worked somewhere where everyone knew the culture was terrible except the people in charge? Rona and Jeffrey would love to hear about it.

In the meantime, make their day by sharing, following, and subscribing to Biz-Souls.

A few facts worth weaving into promotion

The Gallup numbers make the episode particularly timely. Its 2026 report says global engagement fell to 20% in 2025, the second consecutive annual decline, with manager engagement falling to 22%. Gallup estimates the resulting low engagement cost the global economy roughly $10 trillion in lost productivity, or about 9% of global GDP.

There's also a useful AI connection: Gallup's July 2026 research says U.S. employee engagement remained flat in the first half of 2026 even as AI adoption accelerated, and employees were more likely to be engaged when AI was introduced with clear expectations, thoughtful implementation and manager support.

The SEC notes that the 2002 law strengthened management's responsibility for internal controls and financial reporting following scandals including Enron.