HBR Guide to Thinking Strategically (HBR Guide Series)

CHAPTER 13

Seven Steps for Making Faster, Better Decisions

by Erik Larson

Managers make about three billion decisions each year, and almost all of them can be made better. The stakes for doing so are real: Decisions are the most powerful tool managers have for getting things done. While a tool like goal setting is aspirational, making decisions actually drives action. People usually do what they decide to do.

The good news is that there are ways to consistently make better decisions by using practices and technologies based on behavioral economics. In a three-month study of 100 managers, my team and I found that managers who made decisions using best practices achieved their expected results 90% of the time—and 40% of them exceeded expectations. ...