The Information Overload
Decision Fatigue (it's a thing) and The Arts of Discernment, Discretion and Diplomacy
Welcome to this edition of Relevant!
A client made me laugh in a recent session when I asked him how he was doing and he exclaimed, “I’m exhaustipated”! It struck me as a thoroughly apt description of the decision fatigue many are experiencing in our noisy world.
This month, I invite you to join me in exploring where we are and what you can do to cut through the noise, gain clarity, be discerning, and hone your decision-making. And I’d love your vote on your use of AI…
Are we sharing too much?
I don’t often talk about coaching. No one does, especially those who have a coach. It’s an unusually discreet profession. And top-end leaders tend to think of their coaches as independent, confidential sounding boards, seldom mentioning they have one.
It reminds me of my years in executive search, meeting with candidates in quiet, tucked-away corners at discreet coffee spots. Many were nervous about bumping into someone they know in our offices, and skittish about being seen in public with a headhunter. Discretion was everything.
It still is. Especially in this era of information overload and digital transparency, afforded by the mobile recording/broadcasting devices in our palms, on our wrists, or soon to be perched on our noses or worn as jewellery.
It’s got me thinking about how leaders need to hone the arts of discernment and discretion, and top them up with a good measure of diplomacy.
Not the easiest thing to do in a world where our use of AI is changing the depth and breadth of information we’re happy to share digitally. A recent HBR article, “How People are Really Using Gen AI in 2025”, caught my eye:
“Therapy/companionship,” “Organising my life,” and “Finding Purpose” have risen to the top 3. And as we are all discovering, we need to share a great deal about ourselves for Gen AI/AI companions to perform these roles well.
It sparks a plethora of Qs: Are we in danger of sharing too much? Where will our innermost feelings, thoughts, and personal data end up? How might it be used, manipulated or passed on? And what might this study tell us a year from now?
A Cautionary Tale
Interestingly, MIT Media Lab recently released a study comparing differences in brain connectivity in people using ChatGPT, Google search, and pure human brainpower for writing tasks. Researchers discovered that Gen AI users showed the weakest neural connectivity compared to those using search engines or relying solely on their thinking abilities.
“Over four months, LLM users consistently underperformed at neural, linguistic, and behavioural levels.”
The long-term consequences? We don’t yet know, but the study shows:
"Cognitive Debt": Outsourcing mental tasks to AI weakens fundamental thinking abilities over time (critical thinking, decision-making, creativity…)
Memory and recall failures: Over 83% of participants who used the AI tool couldn’t accurately quote from essays they had written just minutes earlier, whereas only 11% of brain-only and search engine users experienced similar recall difficulties.
Long-term educational implications: Becoming dependent on tools like ChatGPT may develop fundamentally different cognitive patterns over time.
Concerns were amplified by earlier research showing that increased Gen AI engagement correlates with greater loneliness and reduced motivation, despite productivity gains.
The Richness of Context
To give these findings the richness of context, it’s worth casting our minds back to the end of 2022, when a public version of ChatGPT was unleashed on our (relatively) quiet digital world.
It sparked several hypotheses related to the future of economies, society, and the natural world. From a career perspective, it provoked narratives playing out and shaping how we think about what it means to work.
When it comes to jobs, the most enduring is that AI will replace people who aren’t using it with those who are, or replace their jobs entirely.
A quick Q for you:
(I’ll leave this open and share the findings with you in my next article)
Two and a half years later, we know that AI will, over time, fundamentally change the nature of existing jobs, replace repetitive ones, and provoke the creation of roles and opportunities we haven’t yet thought of.
It will significantly alter education, careers, work and how we run and lead our businesses.
Playing this movie forward, the prevailing narrative is that it will ultimately lead to a world where AI (and the ‘tech bros’) run the show, and we are paid a Universal Basic Income (UBI) to get by while we pursue more creative endeavours.
And let’s not forget the promise of nirvana, where advanced technologies solve the big, pressing problems of our times (climate, energy, health, education, poverty, human suffering…)
We need a touch of irony here…
That is, until the tech bros outdo themselves and lose control by reaching Artificial General Intelligence (AGI), and beyond that, Artificial Superintelligence (ASI), which supercedes us mere mortals. At which point, the government in question will likely (fully or partly) nationalise the organisation, as ASI will become fundamental to ‘national security’.
Interesting times…
The Elephant in the Room
Today, in the here and now, what we’re not hearing enough about is the impact on people. Never before have we needed to deal with such an addictively noisy world, where truth and trust are constantly eroded, and fact and fiction mingle freely.
And we’re not talking enough about job losses. Right now, companies are sitting tight on new hires while quietly shedding people, constantly recalibrating around geopolitics, the economy, and the rapid evolution of AI.
To add to the messy middle, there are few large training initiatives addressing the impending gap between the likelihood of vast numbers of jobs fast disappearing, and the emergence of a plethora of yet unknown roles. Understandable, we might argue, as we don’t yet know what we don’t know yet.
And while the media is all over it, with wildly dystopian headlines shouting to capture our attention, it’s simply adding to the waves of information overload and our levels of anxiety, making it increasingly difficult to make decisions.
Uncertainty is tricky, and fear and outrage are easy to sell.
The Information Overload
Decision Fatigue
Today, in the scramble for AI dominance and the relentless onslaught of global events, we, the people, are enduring a depleting phase of information overload.
Working with leaders and executive teams, I’ve noticed a sharp rise in decision fatigue. It creeps up on us when we doggedly approach a vastly more complex world with the tried and tested thinking that worked well for us in the past. As a result, we suffer the depleting consequences.
It’s a Thing
Decision fatigue is the mental exhaustion and impaired decision-making that happens after a period of making too many choices. It's characterised by a decline in the quality of our decisions, leading to one or more of the following behaviours:
Impulsivity
Procrastination
Avoidance
Analysis paralysis
This phenomenon can affect anyone, but it's particularly relevant for those who face frequent or complex decisions, choices or trade-offs.
A client made me laugh in a recent session when he said, “I’m exhaustipated”, which perfectly describes how this might feel. If you find yourself exhausted, depleted, discombobulated and unable to make decisions, it’s time to step back and do something about it.
The Antidote
Unless we’re happy to abdicate responsibility and erode our thinking (as in the HBR and MIT studies), or opt out of the digital world, we need to hone our ability to do a handful of things really well:
Think critically
Filter out noisy distractions
Recognise early signals of change
Connect the dots, and
Act on what matters most
These capabilities are rooted in self-knowledge, wisdom, intuition and creativity, which I explored in my last article. And the good news is, once we focus on strengthening these innate traits, we’re rewarded with what I’m beginning to think of as the elixir of our times: clarity.
My suggestion here is to work with your coach or take a course to hone these capabilities, challenge your perceptions, and unearth any beliefs, biases or habitual ways of thinking that may be holding you back.
The Arts of Discernment, Discretion and Diplomacy
We’ve emerged from a time when transparency was lauded, into a world where what we say and do can be digitally reworked (or fabricated), and amplified with ease.
When we add decision-fatigue to the mix, errors in judgment become all too common.
We need to be selective about what we share, appreciate the impact it might have, be intentional about where the information will go, and be prepared for how it might be altered en route.
Because information always goes, and it’s always altered to serve the narrator, be it a colleague, an influencer or a bot. And if we’re not paying attention, a journalist who has accidentally been added to a Signal group chat, as we witnessed a couple of months ago with senior US officials.
It’s a Conscious Choice
In this new era of work, discernment, discretion, and diplomacy will stand you in good stead. It’s a mix we don’t often think about, yet we know when we’re in the presence of a leader who embodies these things. They come across with integrity, make sound decisions, and we tend to trust them.
Developing these capabilities is an inner journey… discerning what works well for you, being discreet about signalling your next moves (they may change) and more extreme reactions to things (they’re likely to pass). And being kind and compassionate when speaking to yourself.
Our minds don’t differentiate between imagination and reality, and we’re often our own harshest critics.
Choosing to focus on this leads to greater self-mastery, fuelling our ability to make conscious choices, even in the heat of the moment. This drives how we act and behave, what we say, how people respond to us, and, in turn, how we feel about ourselves.
We have the opportunity to create a vibrant, virtuous circle and navigate this noisy world with a great deal more connection and ease.
You’re essentially empowering yourself with the relevant leadership "being, thinking, and doing" that truly matters in today's rapidly evolving AI-infused world of work.
Is there someone you know who would benefit from reading this? If so, please share it with them. And as ever, get in touch if you’d like to explore working with me.
Until next time, take good care of yourself.
Best, Louise