Furthermore, these errors occur at all levels and all sides of the market.
Above and beyond dishonesty, greed and conflicts of interest, we have to do with counterproductive behaviour that can lead to bad advice, mismanagement, misrepresentation, jumping to conclusions, twisting things around and much more.
There is no easy way to deal with all this. However, being rational yourself is a great start and helps a lot.
So too does being extremely careful in any decisions and interactions, double or triple-checking, getting references and ensuring that only objective, factually correct and reliable information form the basis of decisions and actions.
Good luck is also unfortunately also part of the equation.
Brian Bloch is a freelance journalist based in Germany
