Decision Making

How Nate Silver makes his calls

March 9, 2015

Great decision-makers aren’t just bold and smart. They also tend to analyze large amounts of data in order to draw conclusions that others might miss. Take Nate Silver, 37, a statistician with an impressive track record for making correct predictions in sports and politics.

Why Intuit CEO says forget forecasting

December 1, 2014

Scott Cook, co-founder and chairman of Intuit, has built a huge company helping executives make decisions using his financial management software. Yet Cook frowns on financial forecasting. In fact, he requests that his employees avoid spending time forecasting the numbers relating to their unit’s sales and expenses.

Resist the push to make bad decisions

October 1, 2014
As you near a deadline to close a sale, negotiate a deal or make a big decision, the inexorable push to complete it can undermine your judgment. So how do you stay focused and logical?

Embrace a less-is-more approach

September 10, 2014

The constant push to add new projects can stymie your team’s success. Adopting a less-is-more philosophy can free up time for those high-priority tasks that merit the most attention.

Are you investing strategically?

September 2, 2014
Do you have too much money in­­vested in low-priority items? Execu­­tives say low-priority initiatives get too much funding, cost-cutting isn’t strategic and budgeting isn’t tightly aligned with strategic planning at their companies, according to research by Strategy&.

Lead with 5 pivot points

July 4, 2014
Five pivotal decisions determine a leader’s journey. They prevent “stuckness” and keep everything moving forward.

Fish or cut bait?

June 23, 2014

So you reach a subway platform only to find it’s mobbed. Do you wait, figuring that with so many people, the train must be imminent, or do you assume there might be a problem and go find other transportation? Unfortunately, we often see a decision to leave as an inability to exercise self-control and delay gratification.

3 decisions only leaders can make

March 3, 2014
Your success as a leader largely depends on knowing which decisions to delegate and which ones to make yourself. There are three types of decisions that only you—as the leader—must make.

Apply tight WRAP to make wise calls

November 14, 2013
Normally, we make decisions based on the information right in front of us and overlook data off to the side. That leads to a trap called the “spotlight effect.” It’s better to move the spotlight from side to side to gather a wider range of information. Use the WRAP method to expand your frame of reference.

Form your own culture club

October 3, 2013
Aaron Jagdfeld runs a fast-growing company with $1 billion in annual ­revenue. He’s president and CEO of ­Generac Holdings, a maker of automatic standby generators based in Waukesha, Wis. Jagdfeld joined Generac in 1994 and became its chief executive in 2008, starting with a blank slate to shape the company’s culture.