326. Omission Bias
It's not what you do as a leader that you'll regret the most, it's what you didn't do. Omission Bias is the discomfort that will linger on.
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Let’s say two people are up for a big promotion at work. Let’s also say their names are Jordan and Riley. That way, you can decide on your own whether they are men or women.
Only one of them is going to get the promotion.
As the final and most important part of the interview process, Jordan and Riley each have to give a PowerPoint presentation to the executive team.
There’s only one catch: the projector in the boardroom often breaks down.
Doh!
Jordan knows this, Riley doesn’t.
Jordan already prepared a workaround. Riley is clueless about it.
Oh wait, I forgot, there’s another catch. Jordan and Riley both report to Alex, another person with a name of gender questionable positioning.
Whomever gets the promotion will become Alex’s peer. Alex secretly wants Jordan to get the job and is happy that Jordan is already aware of the potential plight with the projector.
Now consider these two scenarios:
In scenario one, Alex intentionally tampers with the projector right before Riley’s presentation, causing it to fail.
In scenario two, Alex doesn’t warn Riley of the projector, even though there would be time for Riley to prepare a backup plan.
Both decisions lead to the same outcome - Jordan gets the job, Riley doesn’t.
Which scenario do you think is worse?
The Morality Of Omission Bias
It was 1991. The Soviet Union collapsed, the World Wide Web was launched and Miss America had to return her tiara for lying about her age.
That was the cultural climate when Mark Spranca, Elisa Minsk, and Jonathan Baron began to question the moral fiber of humanity. They wondered if and why doing something bad was seen as better than not doing something good.
So they designed a scenario, not unlike the Jordan/Riley situation above, and asked people for their feedback.
Here’s what they found:
People place greater judgment on harmful acts than on equally harmful failures to act.
In other words, we are more forgiving of people when they just “let things happen” as opposed to when they “make things happen”.
This is called Omission Bias.
And you’ve got the bias.
In its most extreme form, we blame the Nazis who actively participated in killings more than we blame the Germans whose inaction allowed people to be killed.
Here’s the irony, though:
In the short term, you’re going to feel worse for the wrong things you did, but in the long term, it’s the things you didn’t do that will cause more regret.
Inaction causes more anxiety than action.
You know what, this seems like a good place to turn this train towards you and your career.
The Omission Bias In Your Life
According to a 2024 study, the number one regret of CEOs is that they didn’t fire people fast enough. I get that. It’s my biggest leadership regret as well.
Let that sink in for a hot second: the top regret of senior leaders isn’t a bad hire or a screwed-up strategy - it’s the people they didn’t fire fast enough.
It wasn’t what they did that they regret the most; it’s what they didn’t do.
Hello, omission bias.
As it turns out, omission bias probably happens fairly frequently in your work life.
Have you ever avoided a direct conversation with somebody and hoped they’d just figure out the issue on their own?
Have you ever avoided giving difficult feedback because you thought it would just make things worse?
Have you ever avoided pushing back on a business initiative because you don’t want to ruffle any feathers?
I bet you can relate to at least one of these.
Honestly, I see these scenarios play out all the time in my leadership coaching business. All. The. Time.
And now that you’re aware of it, you’re gonna see omission bias all the time in your life too.
[Editor’s Note: don’t you hate it when he does that?]
The Downside Of Omission Bias
Despite what you hope will happen, when you choose not to act, it doesn’t mean nothing happens. It just means that you’re not the one leading the charge.
If you’re the leader of your team, you’re supposed to be leading the charge. Succumbing to omission bias is a bad look. It will rust your reputation. Do it too much, and your perceived power will peter out.
Sure, omission feels safer. I understand. Really, I do. But, trust me, sitting around and doing nothing will lead to bigger losses - with your business, with your team, and with your self-pride.
You’ll eventually forget the awkwardness of firing Phil, but you’ll never forget how much he cost you in lost revenue and mutilated morale.
For goodness’ sake, just fire Phil.
The Leadership Lesson In Omission Bias
Here’s my advice to you: it’s time you stopped saying sorry for the things you did, and started apologizing for the things you didn’t do.
As an analogy that might hit home, you’re never going to feel bad for yelling at your kid to stop running into the street, but you’ll tear yourself apart for not saying anything.
So what I want you to do is take a second to think of the things you’re avoiding.
What conversation haven’t you had?
What decision haven’t you made?
What mess haven’t you resolved?
It’s time to fight against your omission bias. Pull up those superhero undies, and slide on up to the big leader’s table.
Ultimately, your failure isn’t going to be defined by the things you’ve done, it will be remembered by all those things you neglected to do. So stop waiting. Stop neglecting. Just do it.
Your future self will thank you.
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Both scenarios highlight the real problem: politics driven by funding and ownership structures.
100% of companies where financial backers aren't actively involved suffer from internal politics like this—especially when they're backed by public markets, private equity, or venture capital.
Even entrepreneur-led businesses can't escape it when founders dominate. The lasting solution? Change the funding and ownership structure to eliminate hierarchy, creating true flexibility and fairness.
The approach that we use worked. It’s easy, avoids tests of this sort, and eliminates bad executive team decisions based on politics.
Sins of commission and sins of omission.
Smart article. I read an article once where the expert said we are guilty of that which we failed to prevent (and could have done if we wanted).