Episode Details
Back to Episodes
How the Lake Wobegon Effect Warps Your Office Self-Assessment
Description
Why does everyone in your office think they're above average? It's not just ego — it's the Lake Wobegon Effect, a cognitive bias named after Garrison Keillor's fictional town where 'all the children are above average.' In this episode, Lucas and Luna unpack how this bias plays out in performance reviews, team meetings, and promotion decisions. They look at a concrete case: a 2023 study from the Journal of Applied Psychology that found 87% of mid-level managers rated their own performance in the top quartile. They discuss why the effect is strongest for low-performers (tying back to Dunning-Kruger without repeating Episode 116), how it creates friction in 360-degree feedback, and one practical tactic to counteract it: the 'pre-mortem' self-assessment. If you've ever sat in a review and thought 'my boss has no idea how good I am,' this episode is for you.