Decisions: Principles, Paths, and Payments
Brothers Chip and Dan Heath are Stanford
and Duke alumni and authors of the best-selling books Switch and Made to Stick.
In their 2013 release Decisive they said, “If you study the
kinds of decisions people make and the outcomes of those decisions, you’ll find
that humanity does not have particularly impressive track record” (p. 3). For the first three and a half decades of my
life, my track record is a train wreck of bad decisions. Some were misguided
but rightly motivated; but most were terribly selfish and hurtful. Fortunately, today is considerably different. Call it age, maturity, experience, or
personal transformation, I live by rooted values and filter all my decisions
through a matrix of three principles: Faith, Family, and Friends. Each decision guided by conviction and
strengthened with character.
With a strong framework for making
decisions, one still requires a path to follow.
The path I pursue is akin to what Whetten & Cameron (2011) describe
in Developing Management Skills. Their four-step process of (1) define the
problem, (2) generate alternative solutions, (3) evaluate and select an
alternative, and (4) implement and follow-up on the solution are key
characteristics of my decision-making formula.
With a framework and a process, I’ve come to recognize some key elements
of my decision-making abilities and attributes.
Some words that would describe my decision-making would be cautious (I
am not very impulsive), intuitive (I place great weight on an inner sense of
peace and/or anxiety), self-motivated (I am incredibly disciplined and
aggressive toward self-improvement), active (believe in doing, not simply
talking), and lastly, assertive (in a manner of motivation and perseverance).
Hoch & Kunreuther (2001) said, “We
think we are making excellent decisions, and as long as the results are good,
we don’t look to closely at our decision process. It is usually only when we look at our
failures, that we actually improve our decision-making” (p. 2). As stated earlier, I have a history of bad
decisions and looking at the words that would describe my current
decision-making philosophy requires me to look at the opposite of those
attributes and how they used to be part of my past. Some of those words would be: impulsive,
logical or calculated, lazy or unmotivated, passive, and unsure.
Although some of these “opposite”
characteristics do not seem to define my decision-making philosophy, there are
elements within my process at various times. For instance, though I have a strong intuitive
nature, I highly regard the importance and efficiency of logical and calculated
decision-making. For instance, we are
considering purchasing a new home. We
visited the new house yesterday and everyone really liked it (even though it needs
a few minor repairs). Buying a new home
can feel like an out-of-body experience with life-altering consequences. With this decision, I am using both intuition
and logic. I am following my heart and
inner conviction while using a calculated and measured approach toward
finances, logistics, relocation, and taking into consideration all the input of
each family member.
While there is certainly room to utilize
both intuition and logic, there is little room for laziness and dubiousness. If I take too much time, the house will get
sold underneath us. If I were too unsure,
then it wouldn’t be wise to move forward with such a large purchase. We have been in our current residence for
over sixteen years. We do not want to
walk away from a home where our children were raised and in which we have
nearly two decades of memories without being sure of our decision. We want to follow our heart, use caution, be
motivated to take the necessary action, and take steps in a direction that we
all feel is right for our family.
With all that said, our decision-making
video mention that we should “get comfortable with uncertainty.” Most decisions carry a degree of
uncertainty. Buying a house will always
have uncertainty. Tonight my wife said,
“I don’t want to leave a house we’ve been in for almost twenty years to move
into a house that has “hidden” problems.”
Therein lies the uncertainty. We
do the best we can with the information available. At the end of the day, after I follow the
four-step process stated above, I have to move forward believing I made the
right decision. It would be very easy to
fall prey to analysis paralysis and avoid
making a decision.
When all said and done, I lean into doing
the heavy lifting up front and then praying and believing that God will lead me
to make course corrections if and when necessary. Yes, I expect some of my decisions may be
wrong, however, if I’ve done the necessary research and evaluation, then I will
be better prepared to make changes later.
Steve
References:
Heath,
C., & Heath, D. (2013). Decisive.
New York, NY: Crown Publishing Group.
Hoch,
S.J., & Kunreuther, H.C. (2001). Wharton
on making decisions. New York, NY: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Whetten,
D.A., & Cameron, K. S. (2011). Developing
management skill. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.
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