# Stop Playing the Game of Withholding Information By:: [[Brian Heath]] 2023-09-02 It is a matter of fact that, as an employee, one does not have the information necessary to make the best decision. If one is lucky, one has enough information to make a less lousy decision. This situation is not unique, as there are many times when we must decide with less-than-perfect information. For example, should we order a hamburger or a hot dog? We do not know who is preparing the food and whether they slept well last night. The differences in outcomes here are trivial, but we always make decisions with limited information. The future is predictable enough but highly uncertain. Over eons, we've developed methodologies and rules to help us make decisions in the face of imperfect information. But, let's return to the original observation that employees do not have the information necessary to make the best decision. One may respond to this with indifference. Of course, this is the situation for a whole variety of reasons. Others may react to this with exasperation. How can one do a good job if always in the dark? It is a universal principle and necessity that daily life is full of imperfect or missing information. It provides a reason to play the game and find purpose. We cannot change it. However, the amount of information withheld from employees at work is not a universal necessity. Instead, it is an asymmetric power manipulation. It is the belief that those on top know better than those at the bottom. Simply put, the bottom cannot be trusted with information. This is not the way it has to be. So, when one is frustrated about a past, present, or potential future work-life decision, know that the game is rigged even more than normal in modern work organizations. The game must always exist, but it doesn't mean the game we play today is tomorrow's game. Equality and fairness are much deeper and more complex than most fully realize. It is such a significant problem that the same tactics used by oil companies to marginalize the carbon problem will be used to marginalize the equality problem. In short, equality problems will continue to be recognized but always caveated with "what can one person do to change it?" Most will give up as one person is just one person. One can choose to play a different game right now. If enough decide to play the new game, the old game disappears. #### Related Items [[Games]] [[Information]] [[Progress]] [[Inequality]] [[Work]] [[Decision-making]] [[Management]]