Deciding without enough information

One of my biggest problems as a manager, is that I love information. Give me loads and loads of data and I am a happy man. This means that it is very hard for me to decide. I always look for more information.

I found out about this after reading The five temptations of a CEO, (I really liked the book, it is short and readable). My temptation was temptation #3:

The temptation to choose certainty over clarity

Many chief executives do not want to act until they are certain of the outcome.

This inactivity can be very detrimental to a company. The goal should be clear, not certain

I had to learn how to make choices even if I am not certain.

Lets take a look at the timeline of a decision:

image

The first stage is to start gathering data. In this stage everything is ok. The second stage is trying to make a decision. This stage is really frustrating as there is no data left to gather and we feel that we have to make a choice but just don’t know how. After some time we do choose, and once we really choose, we are not frustrated any more.

The point to understand here is that nothing happens in the frustration stage except being frustrated, we have to try and shorten that time to nothing.

Here is how I chose my scooter. I wanted a scooter, so my dilemma was, what scooter to choose. I talk to some friends, looked it up on the internet went to local shops and took some test rides. At this stage I have already gather all the data I needed. This stage was fun as I was learning.
The next stage was really bad, I had to make the choice. I went over the data I had again and again for 2 week, but nothing helped. I was really frustrated and the people around me where fed up with my indecision.

After 2 weeks, I just went to the shops again, took the bikes for another ride, and purchased the bike that I felt the best with. It was just a feeling, but I made a decision, it was great to have made the decision, I was happy again and now I have a new scooter to ride.

Remember, nothing happens in the confusion stage except being confused.

19 comments
  1. You really make it seem so easy with your presentation but I find this matter to
    be actually something which I think I would never understand.
    It seems too complicated and extremely broad for me. I’m looking forward for your next post, I’ll
    try to get the hang of it!

  2. This design is wicked! You most certainly know how to keep a reader amused.

    Between your wit and your videos, I was almost moved to start my own blog (well, almost…HaHa!) Great job.
    I really enjoyed what you had to say, and more than that, how you
    presented it. Too cool!

  3. I was curious if you ever thought of changing the layout of your website?
    Its very well written; I love what youve got to say. But maybe you could a little more
    in the way of content so people could connect with it
    better. Youve got an awful lot of text for only having one or 2 images.
    Maybe you could space it out better?

    My weblog: Reklama Dailyblog

  4. I’m impressed, I must say. Seldom do I encounter a blog that’s both equally educative and entertaining,and let me tell you, you’ve
    hit tthe nail on the head. The issue is something not enough men and women are speaking intelligently about.
    Now i’m very happy that I stumbled across this in my search for something relating
    to this.

Add Comment

Required fields are marked *. Your email address will not be published.