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hippo :: Article Creator

Hippo In Japan Zoo, Thought To Be A Boy, Discovered To Be A Girl

Difficulty: Challenger (Level 2)

Betrayed by DNA and unmanly toilet habits, a hippopotamus in Japan thought for seven years to be a "he" is, in fact, a "she".

The 12-year-old came to Osaka Tennoji Zoo in 2017 from the Africam Safari animal park in Mexico. Officials stated on customs documents that the then-five-year-old was male.

However, zookeepers have been questioning the animal's gender. Gen-chan did not show the usual male hippo behaviour.

Male hippos usually poop and swish their tails really fast, like a boat propeller. This spreads their poop around and claims an area as their own. But Gen-chan was not like that.

Neither did the hippo try to attract females with special sounds called courtship calls. Zookeepers could also not tell if Gen-chan had a male body part. The animal was large and could attack them at any time.

"Therefore, we requested a DNA test … and the result showed [the hippo] was female," the zoo said in a statement posted in April. "We will keep doing our best to provide a comfortable environment to Gen-chan. Everyone, please come and see," it said.


How To Avoid Bad HiPPO Decisions And Groupthink

"HiPPO" decisions are made based on the "highest paid person's opinion"

Credit: Roger Dooley, generated using DALL-E

Have you ever seen a business take an action that made you wonder, "What were they thinking?" Your second thought might be, "Anyone would know that's a dumb idea." Think, for example, of Netflix's decision in 2011 to split into two separate companies, one for DVD customers and the other for streaming. Customers hated the idea and rebelled. Within a month, the unwise decision was reversed. But how did a decision that was sure to anger customers get as far as it did?

Reed Hastings, Netflix CEO at the time, admits that he was all-in on the split. While others on the leadership team had reservations about the move, nobody felt comfortable with vigorously pushing back. It was only after the customers revolted that Hastings realized not everyone on his team thought the plan would work. Today, Hastings encourages leaders to "farm for dissent."

What Are HiPPO Decisions?

Business decisions are often what some call HiPPO decisions - they represent the Highest Paid Person's Opinion. In other words, the boss makes the call. That's what they are paid for, making the hard decisions, right?

Often, HiPPO decisions aren't driven by data or evidence, hence the use of "opinion." This can work if the boss is a savant like Steve Jobs or Jeff Bezos, or has exceptionally deep and relevant industry experience. Few bosses meet those criteria.

Sometimes, the boss ignores what data or evidence exists and/or advice from other team members and makes an intuitive or "gut" decision. "I know the data says A might work better, but based on my experience we're going to do B."

What is Groupthink?

"Groupthink" is a related problem. It's a decision-making process in which striving for consensus takes precedence over critical thinking or innovation. When a group seems to be heading in one direction, individuals are often reluctant to speak in opposition.

The classic example of groupthink is the 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba. The poorly-planned foray was given the green light because nobody in President Kennedy's advisory group was willing to speak up. The group momentum seemed to be in favor of proceeding, which stifled dissent. In retrospect, the fiasco could have been avoided had someone pointed out the obvious flaws and risks.

How to Avoid Bad Decisions

If a leader is so committed to a bad course of action that she ignores the advice of her team and relevant data, there may be little recourse. But in many, if not most, cases, slowing down the decision process and examining alternatives may be enough to avoid disaster. Particularly when the problem is groupthink, one or two members speaking up can break the consensus illusion and lead to a more reasoned decision.

AI Can Help

I recently showed how one large language model, Claude 3. Analyzed a decision by a cruise line with more apparent emotional intelligence than whoever made the actual decision. Claude correctly predicted the reactions of guests inconvenienced by the decision and crafted a far better communication to those guests.

I have to believe that somewhere in a conference room at that cruise line, there was at least one person thinking, "This could go badly. Guests will be furious." If there was such a person, they couldn't or didn't influence the ultimate decision or the style of the guest communication. We don't know if objections were overruled by a HiPPO or if groupthink set in and nobody chose to disrupt the apparent consensus.

AI can be one solution for both HIPPO and Groupthink decisions. It should be standard practice to encourage the humans in a room to offer opposing views, but people don't always speak up. AI has no such inhibitions. Describe the situation in detail, and ask your preferred model some questions like,

· How will customers react?

· What should we do to make this a positive experience?

· What should our employees expect/do?

· What could go wrong?

Try follow-up prompts, and push for more ideas, e.G., "Describe five ways this could go wrong for customers or the company." The more detail you can add, the better the results will be.

Giving generative AI a seat at the table can help make better decisions

Credit: Roger Dooley, generated using DALL-E

It's unlikely that a leader hell-bent on a course of action will be dissuaded solely by advice from a hallucination-prone AI language model. But, if the AI suggests pitfalls or alternatives that others in the room are thinking about, those humans will feel more comfortable chiming in.

Nobody wants to be the spoiler who disagrees with the boss or the rest of the group, but AI has no such reservations. If you are faced with a flawed decision process, ask your favorite generative AI tool for help. Advice from AI can surface concerns others have without any individual being the villain.

Of course, people, even lower status people, still have to feel empowered to speak up. If the boss dismisses the advice immediately and everyone nods their heads, the AI effort will have been in vain.

There are many ways to try to make better business decisions, and giving AI a seat at the table is the newest and most promising.


Safari Park Visitor Draws Outrage After Feeding Hippo With Plastic

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