My name is Olawale C. Olawore.

A few years ago, I was mulling over a question that has haunted me ever since then: How do people make good decisions if they don’t know everything?

It was an easy question at first. As I thought about this more and more, however, I started to realise that it is central to many of the choices that people and organisations make on a day-to-day basis.

Businesses, governments, non-profit organisations, and individuals do not have all the information. New evidence comes forth, change happens, and there is uncertainty. But, there are times when it cannot be delayed. Individual must act on the information available to them. This reality has influenced my approach to organisational matters, strategy and decisions.

My professional background is in business, digital marketing, and strategy. I was able to witness organisations adapting to external change in real time while working in these fields. I began wondering how people arrived at their decisions, not just whether those decisions worked out.

This interest was strengthened by one of my experiences. Data necessary for operations came in late, and a pricing decision was postponed. The business had not changed. The only thing that had changed was the information available to the decision-makers. Seeing it all happen threw me for a loop because I realised that what people decide to do is often more dependent on what they think reality is than on reality itself.

It was that experience that piqued my interest in Economics, Management, and Organisational Research. As time went on, I found myself paying more attention to how people made decisions than to whether those decisions worked. Typically, decisions are a culmination of many little choices made throughout the decision-making process, each one based on the information shared, the uncertainty associated with making each choice, and the judgment of those making the selection.

I’m currently at Boston University, working on a Master’s degree in Financial Management and Artificial Intelligence. Prior to this, I obtained a Master of Business Administration from the University of the People and a Bachelor of Science in Business Management from the American University of Humanitarians, Tbilisi, Georgia.

My experience of learning across educational and academic institutions, and across countries, has reinforced my interest in the way organisations react to change in an increasingly global and interconnected world.

In addition to my studies, I have been the Managing Director of Channel of Blessing CIC, United Kingdom, and I am a member of the Board of Trustees. The experience gained in this role has given me valuable hands-on experience in strategic planning, governance, and organisational leadership. It has also ensured that I continue to be fascinated by how leaders make decisions when no resource, priority, or information is unlimited.

My academic and professional interests are primarily in the area of decision-making under uncertainty.

I’m especially interested in economics, business strategy, artificial intelligence, and organisational decision-making. I do not consider these to be different disciplines, but complementary means of understanding human interaction and how people and organisations deal with information, uncertainty, and decision-making.

Moving forward to a doctorate, a specific focus of my research is on supply chain disruption, forecasting systems, the role of international economic relations, and the increasing use of artificial intelligence in organisational decision-making. I am interested to know how AI may affect the human element of decision-making during uncertainty and whether AI really adds value to organisational decisions.

AI can process data, identify patterns, and make predictions faster than humans, but human judgment is essential for making key decisions. While technology informs our decisions, it is ultimately up to individuals to choose what they believe, which data deserves action, and the long-term goals they want to pursue.

Technology has an important role in enhancing the quality of the information that is available, but it cannot remove uncertainty from information or replace thoughtful decision-making.

These are questions that never cease to inspire me:

How will organisations know that something is making a real difference before it becomes apparent?

How do organisations with similar information make different decisions?

What are the implications of artificial intelligence in decision-making, and how can it be beneficial without inextricably fostering overconfidence or overreliance?

These are the questions I hope I will be able to delve into during my research career.

The decision-making process under uncertainty is what I am interested in, instead of just predicting future outcomes. I believe that the actions taken by individuals in response to uncertainty have a long-term impact on the evolution of businesses, market dynamics, and institutional change. This is the kind of work I want to keep doing as I continue my research career.