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Decision Time

Improve your chances for success through better decision making.

By Paul B. Brown | 
 

The Tip

Pop quiz, hotshot: Say product A has a 55% chance of success, and product B has a 45% chance. And you pick A, which goes on to lose your company millions. Did you make the wrong choice?

If you think so, you don't understand how to rate a decision, argue J. Edward Russo and Paul J.H. Schoemaker in Winning Decisions (Currency/Doubleday). The authors contend that only three things determine outcomes: deciding, doing, and chance. You can't do anything about chance, and execution ("doing") is written about everywhere. So they focus on how to make better decisions. Their four-step process: framing (What criteria will you use?), gathering intelligence, coming to conclusions, and learning from experience. Winning Decisions is one of the few business books published in 2001 that's worth the cover price.

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