Discover the priceless tools and know how to make great decisions from the new book “Decisive” by Chip and Dan Heath.
I have to admit that I am a fan of Chip and Dan Heath. It started with “Made to Stick” and continued with “Switch”.
I like the combination of clearly defined points to be made, supported with scientific research and helpful stories for better understanding and tools and hints for application.
Decisive is about making better choices; finding tools and methods to get to better decisions. Who doesn’t need that!
This is especially helpful when working on our Catalyst Cohorts Paradigm – Purposeful vs Reactive Behavior.
Decisive starts with defining the 4 villains of good decision making:
- The first villain is called Narrow Framing. Basically it’s a binary bias, an on-off switch, should I or shouldn’t I?
- The next is Confirmation Bias which means we gather supporting information that confirms our opinions.
- The third villain is Short-term Emotion that clouds our view.
- Finally, is our Overconfidence, or pride that we know more than we really do about how the future will unfold.
The remainder of the book lays out tools and processes to help overcome these Villains, cataloged into the acronym, WRAP.
- Widen your Options
- Reality – test your assumptions
- Attain distance before deciding, and
- Prepare to be wrong.
I highly recommend this excellent and useful research.
The encouraging thing for me is how this and other books continue to support our Catalyst Cohorts best practices for scaling as an Enterpriser.
Decisive Book Review By Thomas Noon