September 2012
Beginner to intermediate
208 pages
5h 33m
English
Content preview from Guide to Decision Making: Getting it More Right than WrongBecome an O’Reilly member and get unlimited access to this title plus top books and audiobooks from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers, thousands of courses curated by job role, 150+ live events each month,
O’Reilly covers everything we've got, with content to help us build a world-class technology community, upgrade the capabilities and competencies of our teams, and improve overall team performance as well as their engagement.I wanted to learn C and C++, but it didn't click for me until I picked up an O'Reilly book. When I went on the O’Reilly platform, I was astonished to find all the books there, plus live events and sandboxes so you could play around with the technology.I’ve been on the O’Reilly platform for more than eight years. I use a couple of learning platforms, but I'm on O'Reilly more than anybody else. When you're there, you start learning. I'm never disappointed.I'm always learning. So when I got on to O'Reilly, I was like a kid in a candy store. There are playlists. There are answers. There's on-demand training. It's worth its weight in gold, in terms of what it allows me to do.
Closing thoughts
THE TASK OF DECISION-MAKING is complicated by the weaknesses and contradictions in our knowledge. Proverbs may be wise, but they also contradict one another. Fools rush in. Yet they who hesitate are lost.
Research should resolve such contradictions, not add to them. Yet Chapter 6 suggested that decisions shaped by endless political “shoving and hauling” can turn out well. In contrast, Chapter 7 showed that firms can fail most successfully; that is, they may act in ways that are entirely rational and purposeful but that turn out to be self-defeating. Chapter 6 suggested that the importance of leaders in influencing the fate of firms is overblown. Yet Chapter 5 showed that overbearing leaders can eclipse wiser counsels and lead their firms over a precipice. Chapter 1 warns that success can tempt decision-makers to take undue risks. In contrast, the main message of Chapter 9 is that successful firms can become too cautious. Why do our theories and research tie us in knots?
The role of theory is to explain and to predict. Medieval astronomers made superb predictions. For example, the window nearest the north transept of the medieval church of St Cross near Winchester in the UK is angled so that the sunlight falls on the church cross on only two days of the year. These are May 3rd, the feast of the Invention of the Cross, and September 14th, Holy Cross Day. The positioning of these windows suggests that medieval astronomers knew exactly where the sun would fall on two ...
Become an O’Reilly member and get unlimited access to this title plus top books and audiobooks from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers, thousands of courses curated by job role, 150+ live events each month,
and much more.
Read now
Unlock full access
More than 5,000 organizations count on O’Reilly
O’Reilly covers everything we've got, with content to help us build a world-class technology community, upgrade the capabilities and competencies of our teams, and improve overall team performance as well as their engagement.Julian F.
I wanted to learn C and C++, but it didn't click for me until I picked up an O'Reilly book. When I went on the O’Reilly platform, I was astonished to find all the books there, plus live events and sandboxes so you could play around with the technology.Addison B.
I’ve been on the O’Reilly platform for more than eight years. I use a couple of learning platforms, but I'm on O'Reilly more than anybody else. When you're there, you start learning. I'm never disappointed.Amir M.
I'm always learning. So when I got on to O'Reilly, I was like a kid in a candy store. There are playlists. There are answers. There's on-demand training. It's worth its weight in gold, in terms of what it allows me to do.