But too much of it? That’s trouble. Overconfidence can tamper with decisions and bury risks in plain view. It doesn’t throw a business off balance—it can take the whole thing down.

For example, imagine a CEO who is considering the acquisition of another business and is faced with ambiguity and uncertainty — overconfidence can lead him or her to the wrong decision.

His approach to a subject we often comment about in passing is based on deep academic research in his book Beyond Doubt: Overconfidence and What It Means for Modern Society. The well-indexed ...

Since North Korea, China, Russia and Iran are acting on their perceptions of the evil of the United States, their own virile self-image and military overconfidence, buoyed by their hypersonic ...