Leadership Matters: The art and science of making a good decision

In an interview last winter, Bill Gates described Elon Musk’s decision-making style as “seat-of-the-pants” rather than based on “an objective set of measures done by a broad group of people.”

The most prominent instance of what Gates may have been talking about is Musk’s decision to buy Twitter. Some have described his decision as a “horrible investment” and his subsequent decision to lay off a large percentage of Twitter’s workforce as a “humongous mistake.” Because Twitter is no longer a publicly traded company and is not answerable to Wall Street, Musk has not had to publicly explain whether he thinks his decision was a mistake or not.

But this is only one example. In fact, many news stories and major developments revolve around the concept of decision-making, whether in business (“Should this company acquire that other company?”), politics (“Should this policy be supported or opposed?”) or sports (“Should this team have drafted that player?”). Much of the drama of human affairs is centered on high-stakes decision-making.

Since decisions are a central part of life, it is worth reflecting on an important question:

 

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