Decision Making for Leaders
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<strong>Decision</strong>-<strong>Making</strong> <strong>for</strong> <strong>Leaders</strong><br />
valuable prescription <strong>for</strong> orderly, analytically rigorous,<br />
rational decision-making. Many public and private<br />
organizations, including most major corporations<br />
and national governments, have established systematic<br />
processes and technology to support decision-making<br />
incorporating some or all of the above elements.<br />
Yet several decades of research in the classroom, laboratory<br />
and diverse public and private organizations paint<br />
a different picture. In many leadership situations, there<br />
may be many or too few people with authority to<br />
decide, resources may be dispersed or inadequate to<br />
needs or key figures may have conflicting or frustratingly<br />
vague goals. Incomplete in<strong>for</strong>mation, limiting<br />
features in cognitive and affective processing, social and<br />
group influences and many other factors stand in the<br />
way of reasoned and rational choice. In political science,<br />
economics, psychology and neuroscience, researchers<br />
are coming to a rich and more textured understanding<br />
of how individuals and organizations arrive at complex<br />
decisions.<br />
In general, we make decisions to try to move toward<br />
a better future. Yet our thinking and decision processes<br />
are not always as sound as we might imagine. All of<br />
us, even the most skilled Advanced <strong>Leaders</strong>, are subject<br />
to predictable cognitive and affective constraints and<br />
limitations which can distort and bias our judgment<br />
and decisions. But humankind has one particularly<br />
powerful and redeeming quality; through conscious<br />
deliberate examination of past experiences and imagined<br />
futures, we can learn, adapt and advance.<br />
Humans, unlike most animals, can learn from experiences<br />
without actually having had that experience, said<br />
Daniel Gilbert, Professor of Psychology at Harvard<br />
University. Our brains are “experience-simulating<br />
machines.” We do not have to experience all the bad<br />
things to know what is good. Yet when we imagine the<br />
future, we inevitably leave out many details that matter<br />
just as much as those things we include. Furthermore,<br />
it is hard to escape the influence of how we feel in<br />
our present state, which colors what we want in the<br />
future. There<strong>for</strong>e, our predictions are often incorrect<br />
or incomplete, which has important implications <strong>for</strong><br />
decisions made by leaders.<br />
What is the social problem one wants to address How<br />
does one know that their intervention will address<br />
the problem How does one identify and approach<br />
stakeholders Where is the best strategic place to start<br />
A demonstration project Advocacy Policy change<br />
How does one start – big or small What is the best<br />
organizational vehicle to use If one needs to build alliances,<br />
how do they convince others to partner If one<br />
needs to ask <strong>for</strong> resources, how do they convince others<br />
to contribute What kind of support is needed How<br />
does one ensure against unintended consequences or<br />
resistance Once a strategy is defined and a vehicle is<br />
selected, the organization or initiative will inevitably<br />
need to evolve, requiring Advanced <strong>Leaders</strong> – whether<br />
individually or as part of a <strong>for</strong>mal or in<strong>for</strong>mal group<br />
– to continually revisit decisions. Social entrepreneurs<br />
confront these decisions by making the best assessments<br />
and predictions they can. Furthermore, these decisions<br />
must be made in real-time, under time-constraints and<br />
with limited in<strong>for</strong>mation. If decision-making is a science,<br />
judgment is an art.<br />
Over three days, researchers and practitioners reflected<br />
on the nature of this process and what was needed to<br />
improve upon the skill. The Think Tank began with<br />
researchers introducing findings from the science of<br />
decision-making with a focus on the individual psychology<br />
of decision-making based on experimentation<br />
– whether in the lab or the field. The event then<br />
transitioned to practitioners, students of practitioners,<br />
and researchers turned practitioners reflecting on the<br />
nature of decision-making, with a focus on real world<br />
decisions made within groups or organizations. The<br />
gathering then concluded with Think Tank participants<br />
breaking into groups to reflect on decisions they<br />
have made during their own careers and consider how<br />
to approach decision-making in the future. The Think<br />
Tank focused initially on the science of decisionmaking,<br />
examined the practice of it be<strong>for</strong>e assessing<br />
past experiences and how to improve the Advanced<br />
<strong>Leaders</strong>hip Fellows’ own use of this critical leadership<br />
skill. ±<br />
Consider the decision to start a social enterprise, which,<br />
driven by the passion to solve a social problem with<br />
limited resources, faces innumerable difficult decisions.<br />
Advanced <strong>Leaders</strong>hip Initiative at Harvard University<br />
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