Super Deciders

Chapter 4Case 2: Making Strategic Decisions

Claudio Feser, David Redaschi, and Karolin Frankenberger

In the evening after the conversation on heuristics with Eve, Isabelle was having a late dinner with Marco. It was late, as so often happened when coming back from the office in the evening, and the girls were already in bed.

But she was still energized by the discussion with Eve, and wanted to discuss the “Alessandro issue,” as she called it, with her husband.

Marco listened attentively and asked: “Why don't you give Alessandro a chance? Could you tell him your expectations and give him an ultimatum? Say, you give him three months. If you don't see any improvement in his behavior, you let him go.”

“An ultimatum? That's not me. I want to talk clearly to him and transparently share my assessment of him. But I don't like giving him an ultimatum. That sounds like a threat,” countered Isabelle.

“Well, I didn't mean threatening. I simply meant that you may want to be clear with him about your expectations, and then you'll see if anything changes.”

“Yes,” Isabelle agreed, “maybe I should do that. But what if nothing changes in his behavior? I will have lost three months. What then?”

“Well, maybe you could use the time in between to talk to Jakob or other potential candidates and see if you can find a suitable alternative. And if Alessandro keeps being destructive and passive-aggressive toward you, you'll make a change,” responded Marco, but then he continued, “by the way, you may ...