GMAT Essays (AWA)

ESSAY QUESTION:

"In making a complex decision, one should trust experience more than instinct."

Discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the position stated above. Support your viewpoint using reasons and examples from your own experience, observations, or reading.

YOUR RESPONSE:
Some of us think that complex decisions can be made with instincts more than the experience a person has. The issue is debatable one but a closer examination reveals that making complex decisions always involves experience. I agree with the author and I say this for several reasons.

The primary reason for my view is because making complex decisions involves taking into consideration several factors and evaluating each situation properly. This comes with experience. Only an experienced person can analyze a situation well, consider all the what-if scenarios and make a decision for the benefit of all. First instincts may be good, but not for complex decisions. In fact, several times, instinct come because of the experience a person would have had in the past. Several senior managers some times do decide things on instincts, but these instincts are a result of experience. A decision needs to be based on taking into account all logistical and logical facts. Only an experienced person can do this. As an example, CEO of a company is very experienced, and in most cases would have at least 20 plus years of experience. This is because of a reason. This makes it easy for him to make everyday complex decisions accurately and quickly. If the position were given to a 20 plus with little or no experience then chances are that the company will fail sooner or later. So, experience definitely helps a person in making complex decisions accurately and easily.

Another reason for my opinion is that experience and lessons learned form day to day activities are very critical in making decisions. For example, CFO of a big multi-national company needs to make quick decisions based on the dynamic markets. These decisions definitely cannot be based on instincts, these come through experiences, his studies on various related subjects and facing similar situations in the past. Some times there may not be enough time to analyze a situation well, at that time experience comes into play. If he made any mistakes in the past, then he will ensure those are not be repeated. This positively adds to the company. Few might argue that instinct can help in such cases, but others cite that experience plays a bigger role than instincts. Therefore, experience is must in making complex decisions.

In conclusion, though there are competing viewpoints on both sides of the argument, it is apparent that there are more advantages to making complex decisions based on experience than purely on instincts. Undoubtedly, from the examples that I cited above, decisions based on experience are more valuable and outweigh those made on instincts. Therefore, I conclude that experience is necessary.