Why Decisions are Never Black or White  Conventional wisdom would suggest that the more decisions we make, the easier the process becomes. And, the better able we are to make decisions, the better our results will be. If we were baseball umpires calling balls and strikes, this might be true.

In a nine inning game, the average umpire makes over 300 decisions. His choices are always the same: it’s either in or out of the strike zone. These men know what needs to be decided and how to make the decisions quickly.

The rules that determine which pitches are fair or not are quite specific. Each pitch must be thrown over the plate, lower than the shoulders and above the knees of a standing batter. While these “best practice” rules are designed to promote good decision making, a perfectly fair game is almost impossible to call.

In the game, batters don’t stand upright but bend at the knees and waist, making the strike zone smaller. The batter is compressing the rules to influence the umpire in his favor. The umpire must now make a good guess as to where the strike zone was.

Everyone with an interest in the outcome of the game will attempt to influence the decision makers. The noise produced by the crowd disrupts the umpire’s concentration and intimidates his decisions. The reputation of the pitchers and the batters also significantly impacts what the umpire sees.

In some cases, factors designed to support positive decision making can actually subvert the process when they assume facts that may no longer be true. The strength in the batters’ arms and the solidity of their bats has been altered by drugs and cork to amplify performance. For the decision makers, it is like leaning on an unattached railing, appearing to be solid but failing to support at the most critical moments.

By looking at the different stages of decision making rather than examining decision making as a process it is possible to understand what can happen when familiar guides and parameters get taken for granted.

The first stage of decision making is choice, building on previous decisions, followed by preference and propensity. The next stage is habit, the first of several unconscious choices. Success turns customs into an irresistible force, replaced only by culture which is almost impossible to change.

Making decisions is a difficult task because the elements used to produce previous decisions rarely remain the same. By acknowledging the cavalier attitude that can sometimes accompany experience and expertise, new ideas and ways of thinking can be considered. Only with diligence will we recognize that decision making is not cumulative but deliberative.

Essex Two believes in examining and reexamining all pertinent information based on accomplishing a carefully defined objective before recommending a decision. Visit the Essex Two website for case studies that demonstrate our ability to serve the success of our clients.

Worth your time:  Malcolm Gladwell, author of the The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference, has produced Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking. The concepts described in this book and the implications and applications to the fundamental ways we think and how we think, will (pardon the ’60s reference) blow your mind.