Decisive: How to Make Better Choices in Life and Work

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.

More than half of us live our lives like we are in bumper cars. We just bouce from decision to decision like we are driving bumper cars in total darkness. Our choices will define us in the long-run and this book helps us understand ways to make better decisions. How we view our choices is a critical perspective. Decisive delivers a process to use when we are considering how to decide. The book and the recording will provide a positive impact for persons who are focused on making the best decisions and also provide a great service for those of us who have the awesome responsibilty of helping others make decisions in work and in life.

Read or listen to "18 Minutes" by Peter Bregman & "Made to Stick" & "Switch" by Dan and Chip Heath.
"18 Minutes" is important. Bregman takes the point of view that we make definate decisions about how we spend our time.
"Made to Stick" and "Switch" make good companion reading because the principals they display and describe are valuable concerning how to view decisions. The principal of the elephant and the rider appy in "18 Minutes" and in "Decision".

I like to read the book on my Kindle (or hard copy) and listen at the same time. This gives me the 'see and the hear' at the same time. It keeps me on track and I enjoy the book best this way. This helps people like me stay focused.

I recommended this book to a friend of mine who has trouble making decisions.

I have not. I think I was generous giving the narration a 5 star review. It was 4 stars. He does not enhance the content of the book, but he represents it well and was easy to listen to.

If you make good decisions all the time, you'll have no use for this book. If you're like most of us humans, you should listen to it. It's very helpful without being preachy. It's very informative and educational without being dry. I'm a better decision maker for having listened to this book and I think anyone else could say the same after they listen to it or read it.

The book has a good concept, well narrated but only a good start. It has many stories that I didn't feel provided any insight on better decisions or any tricks. I forgot most of it by now.

Key points to do, checklist

I have read a few books by them and I enjoyed them, this one was a little too in depth

I get it, ask more questions and make sure you have conflicting points of view to make your decision. And quick decisions are never good.... got it.

Unfortunately it was too boring

Learned a little that I'll use along the way

The Heath brothers do an excellent job at walking you through the decision process and give you helpful and practical suggestions on ways to make decisions differently. The Brown M&Ms story was interesting and I have used it at work already.

Top 5

Contagious by Jonathan Berger
Give and Take by Adam Grant
Switch by Chip and Dan Heath
Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell

Wonderful framework to ensure that you don't get trapped in making decisions.
Practical and empirically sound advice.

Once upon a time our OM (Owner & Manager) team occasionally struggled with decisions. OM meetings would rely on some information, recent emotions, incomplete research and un-brainstormed ideas. While many great things were accomplished due to the talent of the team, there were also some things that didn't work out as well.

One day the team decided to read DECISIVE by Dan & Chip Heath.

Because of that they learned the 4 steps of a better decision making process that quickly became a part of their language.

Because of that they were able to better coach their teams on how to make better decisions in their daily activities which increased their efficiency and success.

Until finally the whole organization was able to consistently make better complex decisions to achieve greatnesses and increased profitability.

One of the top audio's I have heard this year. So many great actionable advice on decision making provided in an engaging format. While it is hard to remember all of them you don't have to. They have the main points summarized on-line for those who purchase their audio. While I have heard bits and pieces of many of these ideas in other audio books this one brought the best ones together and was able to expand on them. If you enjoyed their previous work (Made to Stick or Switch) then you will not be disappointed by Decisive. Unlike many other authors each book is very different and they do not repeat themselves.

I've never figured out how people can so cleanly separate the personal and the professional, so this business book really appeals to me because it can benefit both. It's told with lots of examples and in a easily digestible style so that it doesn't come across as either a text book, or in a please-fix-me-I'm-broken way. About two thirds of the way through I stopped and used the technique they had just talked about to apply it to an honest to goodness issue I was having - -and dang it if I don't feel like I've got a good solution in the bag. Definitely worth the credit I spent on it if only for helping to remove one nagging doubt from the sackful of other doubts. The narrator is pleasant and helps to keep the appropriate pace.