There is so much good stuff in this interview with Russell Davies, but the thing that really jumped out at me was the mention of Fredkin’s Paradox.

Tell me more—when you say pattern recognition, what does that look like?

Well, when you’ve been doing this work long enough, you realize there are no new problems. You’ve seen the same challenges dozens of times. So someone comes to you and says, “Should we do A or B?” And you just say, “Do A.”

And they ask, “How do you know?” And you say, “Because I’ve seen this before.” Sometimes, that makes you stop and reflect—why do I think A is better than B? That’s interesting to unpack. But most of the time, you’re just helping people resolve Fredkin’s Paradox.

Fredkin’s Paradox?

It goes something like: If you’re choosing between two equally attractive options, it’s a very difficult decision—because they’re equally attractive. The paradox is that it doesn’t matter which you choose.

Most branding, marketing, advertising, and communications decisions are like that. You’re rarely in a room with a brilliant idea and a terrible idea. You’re almost always deciding between a few pretty good ones.

And yet, companies will spend six months agonizing over which to choose—when it really doesn’t matter. Having an old guy in the room who can say, “Just do that one,” saves everyone a lot of time.

Yes, this. All the time. The original phrasing:

The more equally attractive two alternatives seem, the harder it can be to choose between them—no matter that, to the same degree, the choice can only matter less.