How to Decide: Simple Tools for Making Better Choices

Decisions are bets on the future, and they aren’t “right” or “wrong” based on whether they turn out well on any particular iteration. An unwanted result doesn’t make our decision wrong if we thought about the alternatives and probabilities in advance and allocated our resources accordingly, as my client the CEO and Pete Carroll both did. It would b

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Considering what motivates the decisions of others, especially when those decisions affect you, is also essential. Incentives matter. Take a negotiation course, because skilled negotiators are masters at figuring out what is important to the other party and arriving at mutually beneficial solutions. Even if you are not dealing directly with another

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The thing about smart people is that they tend to think that if they think really hard about something, they might figure it out, when the truth is, in strategy (and life in general), there is never one right answer. Strategy requires making choices about a future that is not yet known. I’m one of those people that tends to over-intellectualize thi... See more

Always consider whether there is a better question. 2. Consider what might be missing. 3. For important decisions don’t think twice, think thrice. 4. Use checklists. 5. Develop your own decision making frameworks and keep decision journals. 6. Think like a scientist would. The focus of the ‘scientific method’ is on empirical and measurable evidence

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