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09/19/2018

Why Decisiveness is The Worst Enemy of Good Decision-making

Consider how people make their most important choices

When faced with choices, some people are swift and decisive. Others are at the opposite end of the scale, becoming cognitively crippled in the face of a decision. But wherever you fall, chances are you're not exactly armed with an arsenal of decision-making tools. There's the age-old tactic of making a pro-and-cons list... and that's the entire stockpile. 

Fortunately in business settings there are often more tools at your disposal than you may be aware of, says Steven Johnson, a media critic who has written nine books incorporating science, business, and technology, including Everything Bad Is Good For You. "If it's a complex choice with serious ramifications, you don't want to go into it after just mulling it yourself or having a couple of conversations about it."

In his new book Farsighted: How We Make the Decisions That Matter the Most, Johnson presents case studies and ruminations on some of life's most significant decisions, from the personal (whether to get married) to the geopolitical (how to take down Osama bin Laden). He surveys the breadth of research into decision-making, and examines a few notable historical cases of fraught processes (for example, Charles Darwin's struggle to publish his research while married to a religious woman whose beliefs it countered.)

Please select this link to read the complete article from Inc.

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