Chapter 8 shake down, decisions is the name of the game. Our author describes a general guideline for making a decision. I say general because it is explained that each decision is different and no one method works for all decisions. Throughout the chapter he describes some basic elements of making decisions such as not wasting time on decisions because it might be too late and having key people make the decisions, not a hobo who walked in from the street asking for change because his car broke down on the way to work, but clearly he isn’t wearing pants which gives you a clue that his story might not be that legit. Then the author describes the two different ways to make decisions , including a third secret prize decision, being Singular evaluation, where the first reasonable alternative found is accepted and Comparative evaluation where several alternatives are evaluated against each other before deciding, and the hidden “do nothing” method, where you….. just do nothing. Also a list of important questions to be asked before a decision, are listed to help with the decision making process, including what’s at stake, how bad will this negative decision impact us, and much, much more.
He then goes on to describe how information is very important to aid in the decision making process, but it is not the answer, Oh No! it is a flashlight to focus in on an answer, but it can help save a lot of time when searching for an answer. The reason that information or data is not what’s up is because it can be skewed and not completely trusted. Data could be your life long partner who shoots you in the back when you’re escaping with the plans to arm the satellite for global destruction. Also “no win” scenarios were discussed and the possibilities of good decisions leading to negative consequences. Finally the author talks about evaluating, blah, blah, blah. After reading this chapter, I am very happy to say that it seems that I incorporate these guidelines in my own decision making process. I was surprised to see the similarities and though processes, while reading this chapter. I totally agree that a very important factor to view is the negative consequences to making the wrong decision. In short, this author is spot on and makes reading his material better with each chapter