Michael Useem: The Go Point
Decision stories and templates for knowing what to do and when to do it
Dec 20, 2006
Michael Useem's The Go Point uses real stories to illustrate principles of sound decision-making. The "go point" phrase refers to getting to the moment of truth when a decision must be made. Useem interviewed and observed over a hundred leaders and uses the stories of their significant decisions, both good and bad, to make his points. He summarizes the concepts in what he calls templates of decision making.
I found many of the stories intriguing. Even if you're not interested in decision-making and sharpening your decision skills, many of the stories are riveting. His stories illustrating the components of decisions range from analysis of civil war leaders to leaders of wild-fire-fighting teams.
Folowing are a few of the fifty guiding principles from The Go Point.
- Make a decision when you have 70% confidence in the outcome.
- Mistakes will happen, tolerate them once as a learning opportunity.
- Ignore previous investments, so-called sunk costs.
- As a leader, ask questions to elicit thorough dialog. If you initially state an opinion it will influence others to tend to agree.
- Ask yourself what the top person in your enterprise should do.
- Remember that as a leader you are serving others and you have duties and responsibilities to those principals. The disastrous events of Enron, Arthur Andersen, and other recent corporate scandals resulted from leaders making self-serving decisions.
- Consult respected experts
- Rely on enterprise ethics and values as a decision foundation.
My own leadership experience corroborates Useem's principles. For example, a small company I work with maintains a value of "doing the right thing." This guides them in difficult decisions.
Perhaps Useem's most important contribution is that good decisions result from a continuum of processes, many of which occur well before the decision point. The Go Point is a thorough and entertaining reference for the art of making good decisions.
