On the way to a successful career, decisions have to be made, some of which will prove critical. One good decision can have positive repercussions for years, but so can one bad decision. Where decision-making is studied - mostly at business schools and departments of government - there's a kind of pseudo-science that has developed, in which the human element (subjectivity) is reduced as much as possible so that the rational element (objectivity) can dominate.
This tactic ignores the fact that all decisions are human - there's no machine to make them for us - and history tells us that the greatest decision always involved a combination of human genius, passion, determination, and foibles. Emotions flared, for good and ill. In fact, when you read history, you become more and more fascinated by the human drama that unfolds - you might even say that history is nothing but drama.
But what does this mean for you and the decisions you must make? It means that if you want to make good decisions, you must plunge in and make them with full awareness of the human situation. If instead you try to reduce every big decision to a dry, rational computation, you will shut out the very things that go into a good decision.
So, what makes a good decision good? There are four human elements.
Emotions - Your choice must fit in with your most positive emotions and avoid negative ones.
Self - Your decision must match who you are as a person.
Vision - Your decision must accord with your long-term goals.
Surroundings - Your decision must be compatible with the situation you find yourself in.
These are the ingredients present in great leaders, and it's ironic that they are almost completely ignored when case studies focus so much on risk versus reward, flow charts, statistical trends, market movement, etc. Those ingredients can - and probably should - be calculated by a computer. The human element generally enters the picture when a business school or government class studies the hugely bad decision made, for example, in the run-up to the Great Recession. Then it becomes glaringly apparent that greed, rivalry, stubbornness, denial, pride, and a wholesale lack of awareness were crucial.
The obvious lesson is to welcome the human element - it can't be eliminated anyway, not in the real world. If you embrace your human side with total awareness, your decisions will always turn out to be win-win. Either you will make the right decision, or if something goes wrong, you will learn from your mistakes and march forward to make better decisions in the future. This is the attitude that all highly successful people adopt.
To read the full article go to https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/20130913234937-75054000-the-secret-to-making-good-decisions
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