In this episode of Unlocked, Skot sits down with Dr. Ricardo Valerdi, engineer, sports scientist, University of Arizona professor, and author of *The Five Tool Team*, to unpack the psychology behind decision-making, and why judging a decision by its outcome is one of the most common leadership mistakes.

We get into the tug-of-war between “me” and “we,” why the best hitters in baseball fail 70% of the time and still make the Hall of Fame, when your gut should outvote your data, and the Costanza Effect – the surprising case for doing the exact opposite of what feels obvious. Ricardo also shares his watch-checking story, a small moment that reveals how quickly we climb the ladder of inference and land on the wrong conclusion about people.

Chapters: 00:00:01 – Cold Start & Intro 00:03:30 – Why Brilliant People Still Get It Wrong 00:05:01 – The Me vs. We Tug of War 00:06:34 – Good Decision, Bad Outcome 00:10:20 – Why Hall of Famers Fail 70% of the Time 00:12:30 – When Your Gut Should Beat the Data 00:15:29 – The Costanza Effect 00:20:19 – The Most Dangerous Word in a Meeting 00:22:16 – Dissent Is Healthy Until It Isn’t 00:29:01 – One-Way Doors vs. Two-Way Doors

Guest: Ricardo Valerdi Website: www.ricardovalerdi.com Book: The Five Tool Team: www.ricardovalerdi.com/book LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/valerdi Instagram: www.instagram.com/fivetoolteam X (Twitter): x.com/sciencebaseball