The 4 Horsemen of Poor Decision-Making

As someone who used to struggle with decision-making due to over-analysis and paralysis through perfection-seeking, I’ve been studying how to become a more effective decision-maker for over 10 years now.

I didn’t even used to view “decision-making” as a separate category. I used to think you were either a great decision-maker or a poor one. Now I realize, that everyone has the capacity to become a better decision-maker.
In working with leaders, it’s shocking how little thought most leaders have put into the idea of decision-making and how to improve decision-making ability.

If there is one skill that’s important for leaders, or anyone really, it may be the ability to make strong and effective decisions.

All of us have room for improvement, regardless of our past.

Before we get to ways to improve, let’s start with the causes of poor decision-making.

The 4 Horsemen of Poor Decision-Making:

1. Bias

2. Tunnel Vision

3. Fear

4. Bravado

Bias

It’s proven over and over that our biases, our blind spots, our self-deception, and our preconceptions limit great decision-making. We have to get out of our own way.

Tunnel Vision

Tunnel vision is basically a failure of imagination. It’s a lack of creativity and the ability to think outside the limitations of the past or experience.

Fear

Fear is often more subtle than I’d ever have imagined. Fear could actually subconsciously torpedo a decision.

For example, you may be considering a new role or a promotion but you decide not to go for it.

That decision not to go for it might be driven by subconscious fear. You might not admit that, but the reality is you might be afraid of failure. Subconsciously you might be thinking, “What if I can’t cut it? What will people think of me?”

However, you might instead tell others, “Well I don’t really want the added responsibility of being a manager.”

Scott Adams calls this a “fake because.”

Fear often holds us back more than we could ever imagine. When I peel the onion way back, I often find that fear is what’s keeping me from making a good decision. Steven Pressfield says, “Our greatest fear is fear of success.”

Bravado

On the flip side, bravado is a kind of disregard for the truth or an ego-driven sense of entitlement. Bravado is a hubris that’s detached from reality. Bravado thinks, “Of course they failed, they’re idiots, but I’m smart I’ll figure it out.”

Bravado is especially dangerous because it blinds us, and it stops us from asking good questions and gaining wisdom.

Resources for becoming a more effective decision-maker

Being aware of the 4 Horsemen of Poor Decision-Making can automatically help us improve.

However, it will take more than that. It will take practice, and it will take a new type of thinking to grow in decision-making.

Here are a few resources to help you grow in becoming a more effective decision-maker:

1. Fear/Wisdom Exercise

   I love running this exercise with myself or other leaders when facing a decision.
   Here’s how it goes:

   If Fear walked into the room, what would Fear say right now? List all of the things Fear would say on one side of a piece of paper. Then, thank Fear for their input and explain they can leave now.

   Now, Fear exits the room and you invite Wisdom to enter. What does Wisdom say? List all of the things Wisdom says on the other side of the page. Really spend time listening to everything. Then, thank Wisdom and ask them to leave the room.

   Now you have a page – on one side the voice of Fear, the other the voice of Wisdom.

   Which voice are you going to listen to, Fear, or Wisdom?

2. Develop a Decision-Making Framework

   Most leadership groups operate either on consensus or on the whims of the most powerful or most vocal voice in the room.

   That’s not a recipe for wise decision-making. Consensus is often wrong, and can really gum up the gears and cause decisions to take forever.

   Most leaders don’t study the art of decision-making. It takes practice, and you won’t get it right every time. However, like any skill, you can improve through study and practice.

   Here is a decision-making framework I developed a few years ago.

3. The Decision-Making Blueprint: A Simple Guide to Better Choices in Life and Work by Patrik Edblad – a fantastic book mainly about biases and frameworks

4. Decisive by Chip and Dan Heath – the best book on decision-making, by far, that I have read. Wonderful summary here.

5. The Road Less Stupid by Keith Cunningham

6. 10 Tips for Practicing Proactive Decisiveness – an article I published several years ago