Richard Neustadt and Ernest May are both professors at Harvard. They teach a course in Decision Making at the John F. Kennedy School of Government there. This book is based on the material they teach in that course.
Well, if the book is representative of the course, it must be one heck of a course. The subtitle of this book is "The Uses of History for Decision-Makers.% That could actually be broadened a bit to something like "The Uses of Precedents and Analogies for Decision-Makers.%
This is an excellent book for you if you make decisions in any part of your life. That means it's an excellent book for you. The authors will introduce you to methods that will help you sort things out in all kinds of different situations. Theyâll teach you about separating "facts" into known, unknown, and presumed. Theyâll talk about analyzing precedents that you're about to base a decision on in terms of likes and differences.
Now, none of this is rocket science. But it is a systematic application of common sense and proven techniques to the process of decision making. In addition to the techniques youâll get, youâll also pick up some handy tools along the way. There's the Goldberg Rule. That's that you don't ask, "What's the problem?ä Instead ask, "What's the story?ä I picked up that technique from this book when I first read it years ago and I've used it ever since in my consulting work and research. Try it. Youâll like it.
Than youâll find Dr. Alexander's question, which is simply this: "What fresh facts, if at hand, by when, would cause you to change your presumption?ä Instead of presumption, you can insert direction, or recommendation. This simple question forces decision-makers in a group to look at underlying assumptions and to look at when those assumptions need to be changed. It, too, is simple and powerful.
The book is worth reading just for those tools, but it has the benefit of being well written. If you're a history buff, youâll enjoy the anecdotes and analysis of historical events, such as The Bay of Pigs. If you make decisions for any kind of organization, youâll enjoy what you learn and how much your decisions improve.
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Created/Revised/Reviewed: 24 August 2002
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