Over fall break two friends and I went to Nashville. With only four nights to explore Broadway, we wanted to maximize our time and explore a new place every night. Each person had different preferences about where to go, so we decided to let each person decide one night and leave the extra night flexible. At the time, we did not realize how extreme this decision rule was, as one person held all the power to decide our plans for the night.
On my night I decided to bring the group to Luke Bryan’s, as he’s my favorite country singer. After waiting in the crowded line for forty minutes, my friends started to complain. A large external cost was being imposed on them. I thought about giving up on the line, but I thought through how high our decision-making costs now were. By abandoning the one-person decision rule, all three of us would now have to come to a consensus which could be an even bigger waste of time. To be honest, I also really wanted a picture inside Luke Bryan’s. People may call me stubborn, but I decided not to budge. After another ten minutes we finally got in! Looking back, our decision rule definitely did not minimize total costs. I’m sure my friends would’ve preferred a simple majority at that moment so they could override my decision.
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