Winning Decisions

November 5, 2001
The coauthors of 1989's Decision Traps
offer a clear, straightforward explanation of how managers should perform one of their most basic tasks: making a decision. Russo, professor of marketing and behavior science at Cornell, and Shoemaker, research director of Wharton's Mack Center for Technology and Innovation, break their method into four steps: framing decisions, i.e., factoring in difficulties like information overload and the "galloping rate of change," and thereby determining which choices need to be addressed and which ones don't; gathering real intelligence, not just information that will support internal biases; coming to conclusions, i.e., assessing how one's company acts on the intelligence gathered; and learning from experience. The authors walk readers through each of the steps. Unlike many business books, this one is akin to a workbook, providing how-tos, case studies and worksheets so readers can put their ideas into play immediately. The authors highlight key concepts, and they even show an occasional humorous side. However, they stress that even improving the way one goes about making decisions won't guarantee that they'll be the right ones. Decisions still have to be executed successfully, and luck is always a factor. Still, with better decision-making skills, the odds are bound to go up. This book will prove valuable to managers at all levels of an organization.

Starred review from November 1, 2001
Russo and Schoemaker follow their first book, " Decision Traps" (1989), with an outstanding book on the process of decision-making. The authors are business experts who honed their skills advising, consulting, and teaching at top national business schools and multinational corporations. As they posit, managers and executives may be well versed on intelligence gathering, reframing issues, group decision making, and developing environments to enhance feedback, but it is easy to fall into the trap of embracing an outcome-focused process. In other words, if the project made money, the decision making process was good, and if it lost money, it was bad. But that is an ill-advised way of looking at things. There are external factors, such as luck, that can influence and determine an outcome beyond the control of the decision maker. This book makes a comprehensive analytical tool, with excellent case studies, exercises, evaluators, and notes. It transcends many of the ordinary organizational behavior theory and strategy books on the shelves, and managers, executives, and business-school students who read it will be put through their paces.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2001, American Library Association.)