A critical book review of Decisive: How to make better decisions in life and work
A Critical Book Review of Decisive: How to Make Better Choices in Life and Work
Abstract
The Heath brothers wrote the book Decisive in order to help individuals make better decisions in their daily lives: at home, at work, everywhere. So that one can make better decisions, they must first be aware of the villains of the decision making process; these four villains exist in the form of narrow framing (limiting the options we consider), confirmation bias (seeking information that supports our beliefs), short-term emotion (being swayed by fleeting emotions), and overconfidence (having too much faith in our predictions). After the brothers make you aware of the villians you currently face in your decision-making process, they then instruct you on how you can tackle them and make more effective and enhanced decisions. These better choices come about through the WRAP process; ultimately the WRAP process helps you to switch from using an auto spotlight to a manual spotlight. This process enables you to determine where your attention is focused rather than being influenced by whatever catches your eye. WRAP will conquer each of the four villians; narrow framing is replaced with Widening your options, confirmation bias is eliminated through Reality testing your assumptions, short-term emotions can be overcome through Attaining distance before deciding, and finally overconfidence eradicated by Preparing to be wrong.
Minor Principles
Attain Distance Before Deciding In the WRAP process, Widen Your Options and Reality-Test Your Assumptions are designed to help leaders recognize and analyze their options. These steps are very important because they challenge us to go out of our comfort zone and actively seek for the best options. Attain Distance Before Deciding and Prepare to be Wrong, while helpful, are less direct.
The authors themselves believe that Attain Distance Before Deciding is the least important step of the four. According to them, many
Abstract
The Heath brothers wrote the book Decisive in order to help individuals make better decisions in their daily lives: at home, at work, everywhere. So that one can make better decisions, they must first be aware of the villains of the decision making process; these four villains exist in the form of narrow framing (limiting the options we consider), confirmation bias (seeking information that supports our beliefs), short-term emotion (being swayed by fleeting emotions), and overconfidence (having too much faith in our predictions). After the brothers make you aware of the villians you currently face in your decision-making process, they then instruct you on how you can tackle them and make more effective and enhanced decisions. These better choices come about through the WRAP process; ultimately the WRAP process helps you to switch from using an auto spotlight to a manual spotlight. This process enables you to determine where your attention is focused rather than being influenced by whatever catches your eye. WRAP will conquer each of the four villians; narrow framing is replaced with Widening your options, confirmation bias is eliminated through Reality testing your assumptions, short-term emotions can be overcome through Attaining distance before deciding, and finally overconfidence eradicated by Preparing to be wrong.
Minor Principles
Attain Distance Before Deciding In the WRAP process, Widen Your Options and Reality-Test Your Assumptions are designed to help leaders recognize and analyze their options. These steps are very important because they challenge us to go out of our comfort zone and actively seek for the best options. Attain Distance Before Deciding and Prepare to be Wrong, while helpful, are less direct.
The authors themselves believe that Attain Distance Before Deciding is the least important step of the four. According to them, many