The Decision Maker


Book Description

Who makes the important decisions in your organization? Strategy, product development, budgeting, compensation—such key decisions typically are made by company leaders. That’s what bosses are for, right? But maybe the boss isn’t the best person to make the call. That’s the conclusion Dennis Bakke came to, and he used it to build AES into a Fortune 200 global power company with 27,000 people in 27 countries. He used it again to create Imagine Schools, the largest non-profit charter-school network in the U.S. As a student at Harvard Business School, Bakke made hundreds of decisions using the case-study method. He realized two things: decision-making is the best way to develop people; and that shouldn't stop at business school. So Bakke spread decision-making throughout his organizations, fully engaging people at all levels. Today, Bakke has given thousands of people the freedom and responsibility to make decisions that matter. In The Decision Maker, a leadership fable loosely based on Bakke's experience, the New York Times bestselling author shows us how giving decisions to the people closest to the action can transform any organization. The idea is simple. The results are powerful. When leaders put real control into the hands of their people, they tap incalculable potential. The Decision Maker, destined to be a business classic, holds the key to unlocking the potential of every person in your organization.




The Adaptive Decision Maker


Book Description

The Adaptive Decision Maker argues that people use a variety of strategies to make judgments and choices. The authors introduce a model that shows how decision makers balance effort and accuracy considerations and predicts which strategy a person will use in a given situation. A series of experiments testing the model are presented, and the authors analyse how the model can lead to improved decisions and opportunities for further research.




Decision Making by the Book


Book Description

It’s said that decisions are made in the details. And yet, we make hundreds, even thousands of decisions daily. So how do Christians process all those details and come up with answers that please God? In Decision-Making by the Book, author, lecturer, and radio personality, Haddon W. Robinson, takes his usual clear-eyed, not-a-word-wasted approach, to help you make decisions according to biblical principles—every time.




The Decision Maker's Playbook


Book Description

The Decision Maker's Playbook is an easy-to-use, “how-to” toolkit to improve managers' decision making, using visualisations, relevant examples and actionable checklists that cater to its main target group: analytically interested, busy managers and entrepreneurs. The Decision Maker's Playbook will help readers navigate a complex world. Along the four chapters of the books, it will help you in: 1. Collective Evidence 2. Connecting the Dots 3. Crafting the Approach 4. Complete the Mission The Decision Maker's Playbook is your personal toolbox to help you make better decisions. It offers practical advice to help you understand, analyse and shape your world. As simplified representations of reality, the models portrayed in this book allow us to see patterns, identify relationships, and view the world from different vantage points. They help us understand and break up complex phenomena into tractable pieces. From Unknown unknowns over Fat Tails to Counterfactuals, this book will make lesser known but highly relevant models available for immediate use – in a visual way, supported by applicable case studies and without jargon.




Joy at Work


Book Description

Imagine a company where people love coming to work and are highly productive on a daily basis. Imagine a company whose top executives, in a quest to create the most "fun" workplace ever, obliterate labor-management divisions and push decision-making responsibility down to the plant floor. Could such a company compete in today's bottom-line corporate world? Could it even turn a profit? Well, imagine no more. In Joy at Work, Dennis W. Bakke tells the true story of this extraordinary company--and how, as its co-founder and longtime CEO, he challenged the business establishment with revolutionary ideas that could remake America's organizations. It is the story of AES, whose business model and operating ethos -"let's have fun"-were conceived during a 90-minute car ride from Annapolis, Maryland, to Washington, D.C. In the next two decades, it became a worldwide energy giant with 40,000 employees in 31 countries and revenues of $8.6 billion. It's a remarkable tale told by a remarkable man: Bakke, a farm boy who was shaped by his religious faith, his years at Harvard Business School, and his experience working for the Federal Energy Administration. He rejects workplace drudgery as a noxious remnant of the Industrial Revolution. He believes work should be fun, and at AES he set out to prove it could be. Bakke sought not the empty "fun" of the Friday beer blast but the joy of a workplace where every person, from custodian to CEO, has the power to use his or her God-given talents free of needless corporate bureaucracy. In Joy at Work, Bakke tells how he helped create a company where every decision made at the top was lamented as a lost chance to delegate responsibility--and where all employees were encouraged to take the "game-winning shot," even when it wasn't a slam-dunk. Perhaps Bakke's most radical stand was his struggle to break the stranglehold of "creating shareholder value" on the corporate mind-set and replace it with more timeless values: integrity, fairness, social responsibility, and a sense of fun.




Decision Making with Imperfect Decision Makers


Book Description

Prescriptive Bayesian decision making has reached a high level of maturity and is well-supported algorithmically. However, experimental data shows that real decision makers choose such Bayes-optimal decisions surprisingly infrequently, often making decisions that are badly sub-optimal. So prevalent is such imperfect decision-making that it should be accepted as an inherent feature of real decision makers living within interacting societies. To date such societies have been investigated from an economic and gametheoretic perspective, and even to a degree from a physics perspective. However, little research has been done from the perspective of computer science and associated disciplines like machine learning, information theory and neuroscience. This book is a major contribution to such research. Some of the particular topics addressed include: How should we formalise rational decision making of a single imperfect decision maker? Does the answer change for a system of imperfect decision makers? Can we extend existing prescriptive theories for perfect decision makers to make them useful for imperfect ones? How can we exploit the relation of these problems to the control under varying and uncertain resources constraints as well as to the problem of the computational decision making? What can we learn from natural, engineered, and social systems to help us address these issues?




The Decision Maker's Handbook to Data Science


Book Description

Data science is expanding across industries at a rapid pace, and the companies first to adopt best practices will gain a significant advantage. To reap the benefits, decision makers need to have a confident understanding of data science and its application in their organization. It is easy for novices to the subject to feel paralyzed by intimidating buzzwords, but what many don’t realize is that data science is in fact quite multidisciplinary—useful in the hands of business analysts, communications strategists, designers, and more. With the second edition of The Decision Maker’s Handbook to Data Science, you will learn how to think like a veteran data scientist and approach solutions to business problems in an entirely new way. Author Stylianos Kampakis provides you with the expertise and tools required to develop a solid data strategy that is continuously effective. Ethics and legal issues surrounding data collection and algorithmic bias are some common pitfalls that Kampakis helps you avoid, while guiding you on the path to build a thriving data science culture at your organization. This updated and revised second edition, includes plenty of case studies, tools for project assessment, and expanded content for hiring and managing data scientists Data science is a language that everyone at a modern company should understand across departments. Friction in communication arises most often when management does not connect with what a data scientist is doing or how impactful data collection and storage can be for their organization. The Decision Maker’s Handbook to Data Science bridges this gap and readies you for both the present and future of your workplace in this engaging, comprehensive guide. What You Will Learn Understand how data science can be used within your business. Recognize the differences between AI, machine learning, and statistics.Become skilled at thinking like a data scientist, without being one.Discover how to hire and manage data scientists.Comprehend how to build the right environment in order to make your organization data-driven. Who This Book Is For Startup founders, product managers, higher level managers, and any other non-technical decision makers who are thinking to implement data science in their organization and hire data scientists. A secondary audience includes people looking for a soft introduction into the subject of data science.




The Decision Makeover


Book Description

The secret of happy and successful people? Their ability to make good decisions. Changing careers, launching a business, starting a family, buying a home, moving to a new city? How do you know whether you’re making the right decision? In The Decision Makeover, Mike Whitaker offers a thoughtful and strategic approach for choosing wisely in all aspects of your life whether it’s about money, career, education, health, friends, or family. With his background in both business and psychology, he lays out a decision-making process that gives you the power to achieve your dreams. He even explains what to do if you’ve made some poor decisions along the way, so that you can move ahead without regret. Whitaker emphasizes the importance of understanding the difference between small and big decisions, and shows why defining your essential goals is the key to overcoming the roadblocks that can derail your progress. He reveals: • why your next decision could change your life forever • why you make bad decisions • how to avoid self-destructive decision-making • how to proceed confidently toward future decisions Filledwith engaging anecdotes and interactive exercises, The Decision Makeover gives you the tools to finally achieve all that you want. For young people just beginning to make important life decisions, or those who have seen it all and are ready for a “reset,” this timeless book is a must-have for anyone wanting to achieve the maximum success possible through purposeful decision making.




Decision Making For Dummies


Book Description

Discover the best approaches for making business decisions Today's business leaders have to face the facts—you can't separate leadership from decision making. The importance of making decisions, no matter how big or small, cannot be overstated. Decision Making For Dummies is a candid resource that helps leaders understand the impact of their choices, not only on business, but also on their credibility and reputation. Designed for managers, business owners, and anyone else who makes tough decisions on a daily basis, this guide helps you figure out if the decisions you're making are the right ones. In addition to helping you explore how to evaluate your choices, Decision Making For Dummies covers ways to receive support for decision making, delves into various decision-making styles, reviews the importance of sifting through data and information, and includes information on ways to engage others and make decisions collectively. Being in charge can be challenging, but with this guide, you don't have to go it alone. Discusses the effects of decision making and outlines the considerations that must be made to gain trust and confidence Demonstrates ways to communicate particularly sensitive decisions, and offers approaches for making bold decisions that challenge the status quo Delves into the risks and benefits of certain decisions, and shows readers the best ways to evaluate choices Outlines smart strategies for engaging others and drawing them into the decision-making process Crucial decisions need to be made every day in the business world, so there's no time to waste. Make Decision Making For Dummies your primary resource for learning to choose your actions wisely and confidently.




Structured Decision Making


Book Description

This book outlines the creative process of making environmental management decisions using the approach called Structured Decision Making. It is a short introductory guide to this popular form of decision making and is aimed at environmental managers and scientists. This is a distinctly pragmatic label given to ways for helping individuals and groups think through tough multidimensional choices characterized by uncertain science, diverse stakeholders, and difficult tradeoffs. This is the everyday reality of environmental management, yet many important decisions currently are made on an ad hoc basis that lacks a solid value-based foundation, ignores key information, and results in selection of an inferior alternative. Making progress – in a way that is rigorous, inclusive, defensible and transparent – requires combining analytical methods drawn from the decision sciences and applied ecology with deliberative insights from cognitive psychology, facilitation and negotiation. The authors review key methods and discuss case-study examples based in their experiences in communities, boardrooms, and stakeholder meetings. The goal of this book is to lay out a compelling guide that will change how you think about making environmental decisions. Visit www.wiley.com/go/gregory/ to access the figures and tables from the book.