There’s an expression that is often used to describe MBA’s – analysis paralysis. It describe a situation where someone is so caught up in analyzing that he can’t make a decision. He is paralyzed in the state of analysis. Whether it is the results of the analysis that paralyze someone or more often, it is the need to continue analyzing, the result is a lack of decision-making. The latter arises because, in business and in life, there is a seemingly endless amount of information to be analyzed.
At some point, though, you have to say that while you will never have perfection information (because it simply doesn’t exist and the world continues to change every second), a decision has to be made. The question then becomes, at what point do you have enough information to make an adequate decision. Those who suffer from analysis paralysis are often heard describing new items they need to analyze. Their “enough information” never seems to be enough.
For some decisions, we don’t need much information. Do we need to fill our car with gas? A decision like that is simply a matter of weighing a few different factors – how much gas do you currently have in the tank, where is the closest gas station, where is a gas station with a lower price, what are my time constraints? Sometimes we are low on gas and we drive by a cheap gas station and decide to fill up. Other times we push the limit and cause ourselves stress hoping we don’t run out of gas.
Many decisions in life are generally this simple – there aren’t too many factors and even if you push off a decision, the repercussions aren’t too severe. And there is a relatively quick window that forces a decision (in the prior case, an emptying gas tank).
The issue arise with larger bigger or more complex decisions – how do you know that you have enough information, have analyzed the appropriate factors and to a sufficient extent. At the same time, some situations require quick decision-making (where it’s not so much about making the perfect or right decision but rather about making a decision and going with it without worrying about how a different situation might have turned out) whereas some situations are better suited towards longer analysis where the consequences of making a poor decision are big. Even then, however, getting caught in analysis paralysis could lead to a non-decision, which, generally speaking, is worse than a bad decision.
Decision-making relates in some ways to judgment, which is a topic for another time, but it often characterizes successful people from unsuccessful people. It might not be so binary – it might simply distinguish great success with good success. In the business world, decision-making is an important responsibility for senior management. Recognizing the key issues that need to be grappled with, identifying the relevant information, and making a decision in a timely manner. In life, we all face big decisions – who to marry, which profession to enter and which job to take, etc.
In my experience those whom I consider successful share several characteristics.
Make decisions definitively and with purpose.
Don’t look back.
Don’t try to make a perfect decision.
Have seen a lot – even if the situation is new, can analyze quickly and/or compare to other situations.
What’s more interesting to me, and it relates to the characteristics of successful people, is how do people develop those skills, how do they become people who can make great decisions in a timely manner.
This is just the beginning of the conversation…
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