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Don't get duped by complexity just because it comes from "experts" ((tag:business))

At one point in my dad's career, he was involved in purchasing HR services for his company. If the people selling the service couldn't explain the service to the point where my dad and the other people doing the purchasing couldn't understand it, they wouldn't buy it.

It seems like an obvious move, but it's actually pretty brave. How often do we agree to something that we don't fully understand because it's pitched to us by "experts"? And before you answer, do you have a mortgage? Or insurance of any kind? Or investments? And you fully read and understand the terms of all those internet services you sign up for, right?

Straddling the line between being afraid to look dumb and trusting the people who you expect to be knowledgeable, we agree to many things we don't understand. This is the main point of Michael Lewis' excellent book on the financial crisis The Big Short: complex schemes were put into place that weren't understood even by the people that championed them, and a questioning few recognized that complexity couldn't work, stuck through years of ridicule for their questioning, and ultimately profited big.

We have to agree to a lot of things without fully understanding just to carry on with our lives. You can only hope that you're not being duped. But there's a lot of times where we should suck it up and pester with questions that might make us look dumb until the concept is clear. Make people explain things to you until you get it. If they can't do it, something's wrong.

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