Decision Making

How the mind works has fascinated me for most of my adult life.  In college I studied Psychology, but I really leaned more to behavioral psych because of the concrete practical application.  Its approach was to target a behavior, understand why it occurred and then find the right tool to correct it.  It didn’t delve into the complexities of the mind, the uncertainties of environment, education, family and all the stuff that makes psychoanalysis so complex.   As I moved into my career in the military I would discover some of these understanding very useful in guiding me, as I became a leader and decision maker.

In my role now I am on a staff, providing information to senior officers who are the decision makers.   We have just transitioned from one Lieutenant General to another, along with replacement of a couple of Brigadier Generals and a covey of Colonels.  In the transition there is significant change in how the staff is to work, and how our new leadership makes decisions.  I have to admit I find much of this new way bewildering and worrisome, perhaps because it runs so counter to what I have found to be effective.

For example, there will always be uncertainty and risk in any decision you make.  If there weren’t you wouldn’t need to make a choice.  The critical point is to balance the risk against the reward.  To do this it is reasonable to gather as much information as possible, but at the same time realize you can’t gather information forever.  There is also a time when a decision must be made or it is overcome by events. 

Apparently the need to gather information on the issue at hand is no longer essential to making decisions.  It will be interesting to see how that works out for the organization and the taxpayer.  It will make my job a lot simpler as I just document the decisions as they come rolling down the mountain.

Have you ever noticed an organizational chart is kind of like a herd of monkeys in a tree?  The view from the top branch looking down is a lot different than the view from the bottom branch looking up.