Subscribe
Share
Share
Embed
Decision Intelligence Zone is a podcast that unpacks how real decisions get made—exploring the emotions, strategies, blind spots, and patterns we don’t often talk about, so you can sharpen your thinking and make better choices in leadership and life. Hosted by Dr. Magda Du Preez, a decision intelligence researcher at the intersection of business and psychology, and Christi Mertens, a leadership team coach specializing in team decision-making and collaboration, the show blends science with real-world insight. Through honest conversations with leaders who’ve built, broken, and reimagined things, we explore the decisions that shaped them—and the lessons that matter most when it’s time to choose.
Christi: Hi, and welcome to "The Decision
Intelligence Zone," a podcast where
we unpack how decisions are made, not
the textbook kind, the real sloppy,
messy ones that human beings make, the
high-stakes ones that shape and shift how
we live, how we lead, and how we behave.
I'm Christi Mertens, an
executive coach and team coach.
I specialize in behavior science.
I'm a bit of a geek from that perspective,
and I am gonna be your guide through
these podcasts on the psychology and
strategy of how people make decisions.
Magda: Hi, I'm Magda Du Preez.
I'm a psychologist, and I
specialize in decision intelligence.
Frankly, that's what I did all my
PhD research on, and I really look
forward to unpack how decisions
actually work in real life when we
have to make decisions day to day.
Christi: And so that's what
we're gonna do on this podcast.
We're gonna have guests where we zoom
in on traps, turning points, moments
where, leaders and teams and people have
shifted their lives and their journeys.
we've said the term decision intelligence,
but Magda, what does that actually mean?
Magda: decision intelligence, in short,
is actually our ability to navigate those
hundreds of biases that we are all prone
to every day, those cognitive biases.
in essence, it boils down to
mastering five skills, and the
good part is it's trainable.
Christi: why and how
did you get into this?
Magda: Well, I've been working in
organizations for more than two
decades, and I really was frustrated
to see how oftentimes in boardrooms,
smart people make stupid decisions.
and I couldn't understand why.
So I decided I wanna know more,
and I went and I did a PhD on it,
Christi: So I started getting into
this for similar reasons, you know,
once you have learned and understand
it at an individual level, that's one
thing, but part of it is also, you know,
how do you change, um, an environment
and a team and a leadership group?
Like, how do you accelerate the
intelligence of the decisions that are
being made, We can't always predict
outcomes, but we can make smarter choices.
and so that is the intent of this.
And so Magda, I'm looking forward
to you sharing your insights, as our
decision anthropologist, uh, with
the people that we interview on this
podcast and it's gonna be really
great to understand, how we can apply
learnings that others have made and
accelerate our own decision intelligence.
So I'm really looking forward to this.
I can't wait to get smarter,
And so welcome to "The
Decision Intelligence Zone."