Decisive

How to Make Better Choices in Life and Work

By: Chip Heath, Dan Heath

Narrated by: Kaleo Griffith

Length: 9 hrs and 9 mins

Publisher's summary

Chip and Dan Heath, the best-selling authors of Switch and Made to Stick, tackle one of the most critical topics in our work and personal lives: how to make better decisions.

Research in psychology has revealed that our decisions are disrupted by an array of biases and irrationalities: We’re overconfident. We seek out information that supports us and downplay information that doesn’t. We get distracted by short-term emotions. When it comes to making choices, it seems, our brains are flawed instruments. Unfortunately, merely being aware of these shortcomings doesn’t fix the problem, any more than knowing that we are nearsighted helps us to see. The real question is: How can we do better?

In Decisive, the Heaths, based on an exhaustive study of the decision-making literature, introduce a four-step process designed to counteract these biases. Written in an engaging and compulsively listenable style, Decisive takes readers on an unforgettable journey, from a rock star’s ingenious decision-making trick to a CEO’s disastrous acquisition, to a single question that can often resolve thorny personal decisions.

Along the way, we learn the answers to critical questions such as these: How can we stop the cycle of agonizing over our decisions? How can we make group decisions without destructive politics? And how can we ensure that we don’t overlook precious opportunities to change our course?

Decisive is the Heath brothers’ most powerful - and important - book yet, offering fresh strategies and practical tools enabling us to make better choices. Because the right decision, at the right moment, can make all the difference.

©2013 Chip Heath and Dan Heath (P)2013 Random House Audio

Outstanding book

It provides specific strategies to make decisions in a rational way. I definitely recommend this book.

process-driven decisions

this book helps provide a practical rubric for making process-based decisions and helps move readers out of the typical narrow frame of mind used to drive most common decisions. Not geared toward everyday decisions, but outstanding for large decisions.
I've read it twice!

This book just made my top 5 List of best ever

Would you consider the audio edition of Decisive to be better than the print version?

I didn't read the print version, but I had zero complaints about the Audio version. It was very well presented and had to turn off. Although I do recommend going to the Authors website afterwards and printing the book's one page Decision framework. I found that very helpful.

Any additional comments?

This really is a perfect book for anyone, who makes daily decisions or needs to make a tough life changing choice. It's not a wishy-washy cheerleading book, It's a real framework for making decisions, and I love it!

Not a ton of new info for me

It more compiled insights from other books I’ve already read like thinking fast and slow. The final chapters were the best and worth the time to get there.

Solid Wothwhile Advice - get you WRAP on

The Heath Bothers, authors “Made to Stick” and “Switch” deliver their latest work on how to make better decisions. They offer four major reasons why decisions can run afoul. These include inappropriate problem framing, confirmation bias, and emotional interference and preparation for being wrong. They assert that a process will significantly improve your decision making skills. That is, process plus data improves the odds of a correct decision over data alone. As is their trademark, they come up with a pity pneumonic for their solution WRAP.

I thought the book was pretty good, it had the appropriate level of details and background stories. Earthshaking it was not. The concepts provide a framework for decision making similar to knife skills give you a framework for successful food preparation – without these things, outcomes will be unpredictable and vary. If you are looking for a Tour de Force in decision making, read “Thinking Fast and Slow” by Daniel Kahneman. The Heath brothers even said as much in the initial chapter -- I totally agree.

Certainly, this book is easy to digest and if their advice is implemented, WRAP will lead to better decision making. It is a worthwhile listen but don’t expect shattering new insights. It is solid and worthwhile.

Fantastic model, and here are two suggestions

If the authors read this review, first of all thank you for a wonderful and well written decision making process.

Secondly, if you ever revisit this book and write an update, there are two additional points I think would strengthen the book:

1) When reality testing assumptions, please talk about Survivorship Bias. For example, if the decision maker is an entrepreneur trying to find more information about an upcoming business move and they ONLY speak with successful entrepreneurs, not talking to anyone from the 60% of the new business that fail, how might that skew their perspective? How can we reality test our assumptions by gathering data both from people who have failed at what we are studying as well as those who have succeeded?

2) Depression is one of the world's most common mental illnesses, and it may cause it's sufferers to have a pessimistic bias to their decision making process. What are some tools that can help people make better decisions if they struggle to imagine positive, happy futures? Can a better decision making model, possibly inspired by CBT, help depressed people take more actions that may improve their situation and correct for unrealistic negative thinking?

A must read

stop using or, and start using and. When life gives you 2 options, you've Already lost. make a 3rd. So many great ways of making decisions in this book.

Worth a Listen

Overall a good book on the challenge of making a decision when presented with two good choices. The authors do a good job sharing stories and examples as well as providing a framework for making and evaluating decisions.

AUDIBLE 20 REVIEW SWEEPSTAKES ENTRY

Staple for

Loved it. After listening to the audio book, I hit the web site as I also wanted the worksheets and the concepts in written form. This authors take information echoed in articles from the Harvard Business Review and pulls it together in a systematic approach to making decisions. I will come back to this resource time and again.

Great book

will be listening to the audio several times. Great book as well. Took away several great ideas I use every day.