David Brooks on Deciding Better

In this New York Times column, David Brooks explores what he calls the “choice explosion” over the last 30 years – the ever-expanding variety of options Americans have on what we eat, media sources, spiritual beliefs, lifestyles, identities. Our culture has always embraced individual choice, says Brooks, as compared, for example, to the Japanese, who prefer more choices being made for them. But research shows that experienced decision-makers quite frequently choose badly – 83 percent of corporate mergers and acquisitions don’t increase shareholder value and 40 percent of senior hires don’t last 18 months in their new positions. “It’s becoming incredibly important to learn to decide well,” says Brooks, “to develop the techniques of self-distancing to counteract the flaws in our own mental machinery.” Some pointers:

• Assume positive intent. In a conflict, if we start with the belief that others are well-intentioned, it’s easier to absorb information from people we’d rather not listen to.

• Use the 10-10-10 rule. How will we feel about this decision 10 minutes from now, 10 months from now, and 10 years from now?

• Get out of your comfort zone. A survey of newly-married women found that 20 percent weren’t initially attracted to the men they married. “Sometimes it’s useful to make a deliberate ‘mistake,’” says Brooks, “agreeing to dinner with a guy who is not your normal type. Sometimes you don’t really know what you want and the filters you apply are hurting you.”

• Avoid narrow-framing. “Whenever you find yourself asking ‘whether or not,’ it’s best to step back and ask, ‘How can I widen my options?’” says Brooks. Rather than deciding whether or not to fire someone, ask how the person’s role could be shifted to take advantage of strengths and avoid weaknesses. 

• Develop a better understanding of the anatomy of decision-making. This might mean a course in schools, especially important for disadvantaged youth. “Poorer Americans have fewer resources to master decision-making techniques,” says Brooks, “less social support to guide their decision-making, and less of a safety net to catch them when they err… Those who experienced stress as children often perceive threat more acutely and live more defensively.” 

“The Choice Explosion” by David Brooks in The New York Times, May 3, 2016, 

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/03/opinion/the-choice-explosion.html... 

From the Marshall Memo #638