TED Conversations

Ecaterina Sanalatii

Consultant, MooD International

TEDCRED 10+
TED Translator

This conversation is closed. Start a new conversation
or join one »

What is the key to smarter decisions?

My question to the TED community is what is the key to smarter decisions?

As individuals, how can we make smarter decisions in everyday life?
How is this different in business decision making?
Can we help others make a better decision or should this be done out of own will?

Topics: Decisions Smarter better life decision making
+9
Share:

Showing single comment thread. View the full conversation.

  • thumb

    Rick Ryan 10+

    • +3
    Oct 4 2012: I made a post earlier in this thread, but after reading other posts since then, I'd like to add another thought that has been implied by several here.

    The speed at which you make the decision should be directly related to the "cost" of correcting it if it was a "wrong" decision.

    I learned this concept when I was young while reading a book written by a "corporate executive" describing his life (I don't remember who it was right now). He said (this is not a firm quote, but paraphrased):

    "If your decision is whether to buy Baby Blue or Buffalo Brown coffee cups to hand out to your employees, pick one and make it a fast decision. It won't cost much to buy the other color cups again if you were wrong. And depending on your own salary, it might cost the company more in your salary pay if you take 30 minutes agonizing over it than the cost of the coffee cups. But if your decision might cost the company a few million dollars if you are wrong, that is the decision you want to spend your time on making."

    Made perfect sense to me. A decision to buy a Snickers bar vs a Milky Way takes me about 3 seconds (OK, I admit...sometimes I just buy one of each to make it easier). ;-)
    • thumb

      Juliette Zahn 50+

      • 0
      Oct 4 2012: 1 second : snickers ;-)
      • thumb

        Rick Ryan 10+

        • 0
        Oct 4 2012: Woo-Hoo! A doctor who likes Snickers! If I lived near you, you'd be my physician! ;-)
    • thumb

      pat gilbert 50+

      • 0
      Oct 4 2012: Elementary Dr Ryan, rudimentary logic, what is important and what ain't
      • thumb

        Rick Ryan 10+

        • 0
        Oct 4 2012: Might be elementary, but I see and know a lot of people who don't use it.
    • thumb

      Ecaterina Sanalatii 10+

      • 0
      TED Translator
      Oct 10 2012: I think it might be better to associate a decision to value rather than cost... though it might be slightly harder to measure, I think it would result in less 'wrong' decisions

Showing single comment thread. View the full conversation.