Decision Making: Can we make better ones?

I came across a great article recently titled, How to Make a Big Decision. Written by Steven Johnson at The New York Times, the article noted some important insights that have come out of multidisciplinary research into the science of making decisions. One particular insight that has emerged, drawing from the work of Paul Nutt, a business professor at Ohio State, is the importance of generating alternatives to any course of action you are considering.

Most of us, when faced with a difficult choice, find ourselves in an either/or situation. We either do this or we do that. Consciously or unconsciously, we put the blinders on and limit ourselves to one alternative to the status quo. Professor Nutt’s research found that participants who considered only one alternative ultimately judged their decision a failure more than half the time. Decisions that involved contemplating at least two alternatives were felt to be successes two-thirds of the time.

Reading this article reminded me of the many situations where I initially felt trapped by what felt like the only available options. Reflecting on some of those, the ones with the better outcomes were those in which the input of others was sought. Those discussions typically illuminated more paths and ultimately lead to better outcomes.

I’ll share one instance with you here as it really stands out in my mind. It cropped up when I was serving on jury duty a number of years ago. After all the courtroom presentations, we retreated to our jury room and took a quick straw poll to find out where everyone stood regarding a verdict. Selfishly, many of us were hoping the group would have been unanimous in their initial vote and then we could have gone home after spending a few days in court. It wasn’t that simple. The jury was more or less split. The discussions began and it was apparent that the group needed to take a deeper look at the testimony we had just heard in order to arrive at a verdict. Do you recall the 1950s classic film 12 Angry Men starring Henry Fonda? I felt like I was living that out. Just like in the movie, we started looking at the evidence from perspectives other than those the two lawyers had presented. We had to go through this exercise several times before we were able to confidently arrive at a not guilty verdict.

Years later, I think back to that experience and consider it to be one of the best decision-making exercises I have ever gone through. And given the potential consequences to the defendant, it was absolutely critical we make the best decision we could. The judge seemed to agree as he specifically took time to meet with us and thank us for being so thorough in our deliberations. While he was careful not to say if he agreed or disagreed with our verdict, I still think his meeting with us was a way to subtly let us know we had made the right decision.

You can find Steven Johnson’s article here: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/01/opinion/sunday/how-make-big-decision.html

And you can pick up Professor Paul Nutt’s book via Amazon here: https://www.amazon.com/Why-Decisions-Fail-Paul-Nutt/dp/1576751503