Decisive: How to Make Better Choices in Life and Work
By Chip Heath and Dan Heath
Read by Kaleo Griffith
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1 Format: Digital Download
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Chip and Dan Heath, the bestselling authors of Switch and Made to Stick, tackle one of the most critical topics in our work and personal lives: how to make better decisions. Research in psychology has revealed that our decisions are disrupted by an array of biases and irrationalities: We’re overconfident. We seek out information that supports us and downplay information that doesn’t. We get distracted by short-term emotions. When it comes to making choices, it seems, our brains are flawed instruments. Unfortunately, merely being aware of these shortcomings doesn’t fix the problem, any more than knowing that we are nearsighted helps us to see. The real question is: How can we do better? In Decisive, the Heaths, based on an exhaustive study of the decision-making literature, introduce a four-step process designed to counteract these biases. Written in an engaging and compulsively readable style, Decisive takes readers on an unforgettable journey, from a rock star’s ingenious decision-making trick to a CEO’s disastrous acquisition, to a single question that can often resolve thorny personal decisions. Along the way, we learn the answers to critical questions like these: How can we stop the cycle of agonizing over our decisions? How can we make group decisions without destructive politics? And how can we ensure that we don’t overlook precious opportunities to change our course? Decisive is the Heath brothers’ most powerful—and important—book yet, offering fresh strategies and practical tools enabling us to make better choices. Because the right decision, at the right moment, can make all the difference. From the Hardcover edition.
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Summary
Summary
Chip and Dan Heath, the bestselling authors of Switch and Made to Stick, tackle one of the most critical topics in our work and personal lives: how to make better
decisions.
Research in psychology has revealed that our decisions are disrupted by an array of biases and irrationalities: We’re overconfident. We seek out information that supports us and
downplay information that doesn’t. We get distracted by short-term emotions. When it comes to making choices, it seems, our brains are flawed instruments. Unfortunately, merely being aware of these
shortcomings doesn’t fix the problem, any more than knowing that we are nearsighted helps us to see. The real question is: How can we do better?
In Decisive, the Heaths, based on an exhaustive study of the decision-making literature, introduce a four-step process designed to counteract these biases. Written in an
engaging and compulsively readable style, Decisive takes readers on an unforgettable journey, from a rock star’s ingenious decision-making trick to a CEO’s disastrous acquisition, to a
single question that can often resolve thorny personal decisions.
Along the way, we learn the answers to critical questions like these: How can we stop the cycle of agonizing over our decisions? How can we make group decisions without
destructive politics? And how can we ensure that we don’t overlook precious opportunities to change our course?
Decisive is the Heath brothers’ most powerful—and important—book yet, offering fresh strategies and practical tools enabling us to make better choices. Because the right
decision, at the right moment, can make all the difference.
From the Hardcover edition.
Editorial Reviews
Editorial Reviews
Reviews
Reviews
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Important topic, interesting factoids
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How do you make better decisions? How can you get your organization to make better decisions? This seems like a vitally important topic, especially for someone indecisive and vulnerable to analysis paralysis like myself.
I didn't walk away from this feeling like I had a solid formula for making difficult decisions that I could follow step by step. And readers are discouraged from pros and cons lists, or listing factors for and against a choice and assigning them weights.
The book does have a number of interesting stories about people and companies and how they approached decisions. And there are definitely interesting and valuable tips that studies show help people to make better decisions. They might seem silly. Like the "vanishing options" approach: ask "if none of these choices were available, what would I do instead?" Simply adding a few more options on the table is often quite valuable, especially if you can make initial exploration on each - for example, hiring multiple design firms to do the first phase of a project, before deciding which firm you'll hire for the full project.
People make better choices when asked what advice they would give to a friend making the same choice.
Try the 10-10-10 rule. How do you think you'd feel about this decision 10 minutes from now? 10 months from now? 10 years from now?
If you were replaced, what would your successor do or change? Why not do that yourself?
Details
Details
Available Formats : | Digital Download |
Runtime: | 9.14 |
Audience: | Adult |
Language: | English |
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