Decide & Conquer: Make Winning Decisions and Take Control of Your Life

7

Two

Chapter

2

The Search for Rationality

Get your facts first, and then you can

distort them as much as you please.

—M. Twain

Sean Norris was facing a decision that many of us faced when we

were about 17 or 18 years of age. A senior in high school, Sean was trying

to decide where to go to college.

Picking a college is a big decision. A tough decision. It would determine

where Sean would be for the next four years and would set the direction

for the rest of his life. Sean wasn’t about to approach a decision like this

lightly.

Sean began by listing his criteria for what he wanted in a college. He

preferred some place not too far from his hometown, so he could drive

home for long weekends and holidays. The school would have to have a

program in accounting because he was pretty sure that was what he

wanted for a major. He wanted a school with a good reputation. And

Sean’s folks reminded him that, if the cost was more than $5,000 a year,

he better get financial aid or count on having a part-time job because that

was all the help they could afford to provide. After considerable

DECIDE & CONQUER

8

deliberation, Sean added a few more preferences to his list: someplace

where at least one of his buddies was going; a favorable ratio of women to

men; and an active fraternity-sorority system.

When Sean shared his list with his dad, his dad reminded him that all of

these criteria weren’t equally important. Cost and the availability of an

accounting major, for instance, were probably a lot more important than

the male:female ratio. Sean agreed, so he prioritized his criteria by

weighting each on a scale from 1 to 10. Next, he used his career counselor

at school, his local library, and the Internet to create a list of all the viable

colleges that he might possibly consider attending. These efforts resulted in

nearly 20 alternatives. Then Sean evaluated each of his 20 options. He

became an “informed consumer” by reading as much as he could about

each school, talking to people who had attended them, and visiting the

campuses of the half-dozen or so that seemed to best fit his preferences.

As he compared each college against the criteria and weights he had

previously set, the strengths and weaknesses of each became evident.

Finally, Sean identified the college that scored highest on his evaluation

and made it his first choice.

The steps that Sean went through are referred to as the rational decision

process.

1

It’s called rational because Sean sought to make consistent,

value-maximizing choices within the constraints he was given.

2

Good decision making is built on

rationality. Why? Because

decisions based on logic,

deliberate analysis, and the

thoughtful search for complete

information—rather than on gut

feelings or experience--should

lead to superior outcomes. The

search for rationality forces you to

confront and clarify your values

Just as a straight line is the

shortest distance between

two points, rationality is the

shortest distance between

where you are and where

you want to be.