Ahem, need - at least from our leaders. It may be that creating certainty amid uncertainty is itself the core of leadership. The stories we are most certain of are the ones we use to run our lives, to make decisions, and take action.
One heuristic for this is the 40-70 rule - a heuristic for decision making. In order to make a decision you should have no less than 40 percent of the information you would prefer to have, and you shouldn't wait to make the decision once you have 70 percent of the information you would prefer have.
I'm sympathetic to this. There is a strong argument to be made that this is a need.
> It may be that creating certainty amid uncertainty is itself the core of leadership.
I would agree with this without reservation.
But the phenomenon here is being driven by what people want, not what people need. If they're benefiting from the certainty they get, that's just a coincidence.
Wanting and needing are different things, and while people may need some certainty, they want much more than they need, and they're getting more than the optimal amount.
One heuristic for this is the 40-70 rule - a heuristic for decision making. In order to make a decision you should have no less than 40 percent of the information you would prefer to have, and you shouldn't wait to make the decision once you have 70 percent of the information you would prefer have.