You’re either good at making decisions, or you’re not.
The skill can’t be learned.
… or can it?
Yesterday, my altMBA learning group spent HOURS talking about decision making.
Here are some things we discussed:
🍩Is there a direct co-relation between good decisions and good outcomes?
🍩What is the definition of a good decision?
🍩Is a good decision one where we’d do it again regardless of the outcome?
🍩Might a ‘bad decision’ turn out to be a ‘good’ one if viewed through a longer timeframe?
🍩How do we consistently make good decisions?
🍩What about the emotional side of sunk costs? Do we just ignore that in our decision making process?
When I did my previous mba oh ::sucks teeth:: just a bit more than 20 years ago 😬- I remember thinking how incredibly intensive that 1-year programme was. I was so glad I left my job to do it full-time, as I could not imagine working AND doing the exec programme in the evening. 😵
Now imagine a whole programme condensed into a 30 day sprint where we work with a new group EVERY WEEK, with live calls and homework EVERY NIGHT. This must be what steroids or other narcotics that amps life x1000 feels like! 😵💫
I LOVE IT THOUGH! 😁
Anyway, as a project manager I’ve found that making decisions is something that comes easily to me. Here’s my process:
👉🏻Quickly identify all options
👉🏻List down all pros and cons of each option
👉🏻Mentally run simulation on the option scenarios forward to its probable outcome
👉🏻Evaluate which probable outcome is the preferred one
👉🏻Pick option
I have to be very careful about unconscious bias, but I can run through this process fairly quickly and get a feel for the impact of different outcomes.
In this week’s newsletter, I dive into it a bit more.
Sign up details in the comments 👇🏻
Can you think of a good decision that still led to a bad outcome?
What was it? And would you make the same choices?
What do you think about sunk costs?
#DecisionMaking
#Leadership
#OnThePeiroll
