Ethics: How Do You Know?

"If you lend someone $20, and never see that person again; it was probably worth it."

Unknown

Ethics or lack thereof.

One's success will, to a large degree, depend upon how quickly they can determine who to trust and who to stay away from and as anyone over the age of 15 can attest, that's not always easy to do.

Employees, supervisors, investors, investment options; how do you sort it all out? What do you look for when deciding who you will and will not trust?

Crisis Management: Moving On

"The little that is completed, vanishes from the sight of one who looks forward to what is still to do."

Johan Wolfgang von Goethe
18th Century German Writer

There are many quotes about the importance of putting aside failure and looking ahead, this among them. The common theme is move on with some, as this one does, suggesting that is even more important in difficult times.

More important, tougher to do but essential.

We are all entitled to our "woe is me" time but as mountain climber Julie said, the choice is to move on or sit there in the road feeling sorry for yourself until you die.

What happens when an entire organization is "sitting in the road"? Who's job is it to urge everyone on?

Communication: The Importance of Writing

"Put it before them briefly so they will read it, clearly so they will appreciate it, picturesquely so they will remember it, and above all, accurately so they will be guided by its light."

Joesph Pulitzer

Pulitzer was no doubt talking about literature but these recommendations apply to business writing as well.

We don't need Pulitzer Prize level writing in business but we do need people who can put clear, concise sentences down on a page.

What writing skills grade would you give to those you work with including those above you, your peers and subordinates? If low, do you see it as a problem?

Negotiation: Can There Be Two "Winners"?

"He who has learned to disagree without being disagreeable has discovered the most valuable secret of a diplomat."

Joseph Joubert
18th Century French Moralist

"In business, you don't get what you deserve, you get what you negotiate."

Chester L. Karrass
Author, Consultant on Negotiation Skills

Everything in business is about negotiation; with your customers, employees, even with yourself.

How much time have you thought about your ability to negotiate? For you is it win/lose, win/win or lose/win when it comes to how you deal with people in your professional life?

Thank You!

"Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all others."

Cicero
Roman Statesman

The "mothership" for gratitude includes such things as appreciation, being thankful and giving recognition to those who help you achieve your personal and professional goals.

I thank all of you who have participated and followed Business Wisdom since its inception just a few short months ago and hope to see you with us in the time ahead.

Happy Holidays to you all and I wish you a much better 2009!

Time Management: Use It Or Lose It

"Time stays long enough for anyone who will use it."

Leonardo Da Vinci

I am feeling really rushed this morning. Still much to do to close down my business accounting for this year, regular business to do, a football game to go to 100 miles south in San Diego tonight and Christmas is . . .

Looking back I would like to think this current crunch is not my fault, that others have conspired to put me in this "too much to do" box; however, the reality is, I did it to myself. Time has stayed long enough the last few days but I didn't use what there was of it as wisely as I should have.

On the positive side I typically do. Time management is one of my strong suits and in my opinion, a hallmark of a good manager. My approach is to pretend I have less time than I really do getting things done well ahead of the due date.

What about you? How critical is time management to you and what secrets do you have to make the best use of the time you have?

Management Responsibility: Employee Attitudes?

"Our attitude toward life determines life's attitude towards us."

Earl Nightingale
Commentator

Seemingly the entire world is in a funk, wondering if we've at least seen the beginning of the end of bad economic times. Or if worst still lays ahead of us. With that brings a lot of bad attitudes; on occasion myself included.

Nightingale is right. People do gravitate to those who are "up" backing away from those "down".

Can management affect employee attitudes and if so in what ways? Or should they let each individual work through things however is best for them?

Radical Change: Crazy Like a Fox?

"The important thing is this: to be able at any moment to sacrifice what we are for what we could become."

Charles Du Bos

French Literature Critic

As with many of these quotes, not likely originally muttered with business in mind but they all can and should apply.

A business looking for new ways to grow may well have to sacrifice what is for what could be.

When they do so just before they go out of business we say they had no choice but to try new ways.

When things are fine and they attempt something new and succeed, we see the hand of heroic management.

But when they fail, those who ask "what were they thinking?" are everywhere.

Mervyns, a western state 189 location mid line department store founded in 1949, is going out of business.

Which of the above do you think best describes their management?

Sales Management: The Few Versus The Rest

"You must do the thing you think you cannot do."

Eleanore Roosevelt

Great sales people sell beyond expectations and I'll bet few have to remind them self that they must do what many think cannot be done. They just do it.

Is the quality or trait that makes them great, easily identified? When hiring sales staff how do you determine who likely has it? What if anything do you do to retain them when you find them?

Control: Who Does What to Who?

"You must be the change you wish to see in the world."

Mahatma Gandhi

We are in the middle of a "change storm" with calls from all sides to get to a different place starting with business.

Maybe it is a good time to look for ways to improve things, starting with us. And not just in our current poor economic condition but in all ways, every day.

Change is coming. Will we make it or will it make us?

Management: Coordinating Many To Act As One

"Whatever you vividly imagine, ardently desire, sincerely believe and enthusiastically act upon... must inevitably come to pass."

Paul Meyer
Author

I respectfully disagree but only in the absoluteness of this quote. If I understand him, Paul is saying that if you clearly see your goal, want it bad enough and work hard to achieve it it will happen.

I wish that were true but there are other intervening factors and at the top of that list is what others do (or do not do.) It is not enough that an individual within a company do as Paul says; for the company to succeed, all must do these things together.

However he has the right idea. These are the attributes an individual must strive to achieve, which are also things individuals within a company must do in concert with each other (an even more difficult task) and making the latter happen is the responsibility of management. If the gears don't mesh, no ticking clock.

Agree?

Conflict Resolution: The Role of Self Control

"He who angers you conquers you."

Elizabeth Kenny
Australian Physical Therapist

Ms. Kenny is touting the benefit of self-control; something we attempt to instill in our children but don't always display ourselves.

Anger is the product of failed conflict resolution. What can management do to see that doesn't happen? Or is it best to let employees sort our their business and personal differences themselves?

By the way, "Australian Physical Therapist" hardly describes Elizabeth Kenny's life and accomplishments and if you don't know about her you might find further description interesting.

Decision Making: How Do You Know You Know Enough?

"It is impossible for anyone to begin to learn what he thinks he already knows."

Epictetus
1st Century Greek Philosopher

Critical data is central to effective decision making; without it what you decide may well be wrong. Of course the first decision you must make is concluding you have enough data to make good decisions.

How do you know when you know enough to act wisely?

Experience: The Wisdom of Gray

"By three methods we may learn wisdom: First, by reflection, which is noblest; Second, by imitation, which is easiest; and third by experience, which is the bitterest."

Confucius

Think about it, do what others do, learn from what you've done in the past.

Numbers one and three strike me as similar if not the same and in any event are close. Learn from what is or has been.

What role does experience play in your organization?

Conflict Resolution: My Way!

"Many are stubborn in the path they have chosen, few in the pursuit of the goal."

Friedrich Nietzsche
Philosopher

It is easy to become more focused on one's own opinion rather than achievement of the group's goal. And this becomes even more so when there is a personality conflict between individuals.

If you don't like someone you probably won't want to do what they think is right.

Do you look for this in those you manage? If you do what if anything do you do when you see it happening?

Change Management: Finding the New Way

"Nothing is easy to the unwilling."

Thomas Fuller
17th Century English Historian

Regardless of all the supposed clamor for "change" in this country, when it comes down to it most people do not like to stray far from what they know even when their present circumstance is not good. "It's OK for the other person to change but not me." And as true as that is in our personal lives it is even more so in business.

Successful businesses continually evolve which means their employees must continually learn new things. For many this is traumatic and threatening and they fight the requirement to change along with the business.

Does your company actively seek new methods? What about the employees? How about you?

Accepting Responsibility: The Foundation of Success

"Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Willing is not enough; we must do."

Johann von Goethe
18th Century German Author

This is one part of the importance of being responsible.

von Goethe is telling us that after all is said and done the only measure of success is having accomplished something. Wanting to do so, having reasons for not having succeeded are not enough.

The other part is being willing to acknowledge when failure is our responsibility; an almost impossible task for many.

I've tried to focus discussion regarding my team failures on the reasons rather than the personalities so we could change the circumstances that led to our collective failure. It helped to a point but for many there was a need to deflect all association with failure no matter how obvious their connection.

What is your experience?

Sales Forecasting: The Great Unknown

"What we anticipate seldom occurs, what we least expected generally happens."

Benjamin Disraeli
19th Century British Prime Minister

I was just talking about this with someone the other day telling them how I rarely get the projects I am all but certain will happen but do get many I assume will not.

Accurate sales forecasts are the underpinning of a company's business plan and yet as most sales managers will tell you, accurate forecasts is almost an oxymoron.

When it comes to sales your product may be straight line, commodity, predictable like that depicted in the above graph but I will bet most aren't that way particularly in today's economy.

Still, companies need to have a pretty good idea what their revenue line will look like. What do you do to develop as accurate a revenue picture as possible?

Goals: What Might Have Been

"For all sad words of tongue and pen, The saddest are these, "It might have been."

John Greenleaf Whittier
19th Century Quaker Poet

"Might have been" could mean something tried and failed or as I suspect Mr. Greenleaf was suggesting, something never attempted. Something someone wanted but for whatever reason never enough so to go after it.

This applies to our personal and business lives and we can be equally remiss in both when it comes to going after what we want.

What do you want?

Planning: The Business Roadmap

"Developing the plan is actually laying out the sequence of events that have to occur for you to achieve your goal."

George L. Morrisey
Author

There it is.

A plan is nothing more than what you need to do to accomplish whatever it is you've defined as your "goals". You have defined goals haven't you?? If you haven't does that mean you don't care where you are headed?

Kind of like walking out the front door one day, no destination in mind. With that the case any direction using any means of transportation will get you there. But if you want to go to a specific location you need a plan.

Does your company have clearly defined and measurable goals? Is there a detailed and specific strategic, tactical and operational plan in place to achieve them?

Confidence: How Sure Do We Need To Be?

"Doubt whom you will, but never yourself."

Christian N. Bovee
19th Century Author

This is one of those quotes that initially strikes me as good but after further reflection I begin to have doubts. The positive part is trust in yourself, set your path then walk it, etc., but what if you're wrong? (Bovee probably wouldn't even tolerate the doubt associated with asking that question.)

Maybe the quote overly simplifies what he really had in mind. Maybe he would tell us to do as Davy Crockett allegedly suggested ("Be sure you're right, then go ahead"), but even that seems difficult to do. There have been many instances in my career where there was no way to "be sure" regarding what I planned to do.

What role does certainty and/or self-confidence play in decision making?

Management: One Thing More Than Any Other

"Quiet minds cannot be perplexed or frightened, but go on in fortune or misfortune at their own private pace, like a clock during a thunderstorm."

Robert Louis Stevenson

Were I to pick one trait I value most in a manager it is the ability to stay calm during times of upheaval.

Few great leaders lose control for long if at all. They are as Stevenson said, "like a clock during a thunderstorm", able to function while others around them cannot.

What about you? What is the one managerial trait at the top of your list?

Problem Solving: Can We or Can't We?

"The greatest and most important problems in life are all in a certain sense insoluble. They can never be solved, but only outgrown."

Carl Jung
Psychiatrist

In other words forget the really big stuff; you can't do anything about it and/or maybe you can but only a little.

Do you think this includes significant cash flow, personnel and/or declining sales problems? Certainly in the extreme these are big, important issues to any company experiencing them but would they have made Jung's list?

I've been through all of these finding some to be "solvable" but rarely as I had hoped. Also a few went away before I could or did try to fix them.

Did I "outgrow" them? I don't believe so.

I think Jung's "certain sense" reference applied to business is a suggestion that we need to look for alternatives other than the one we originally expected and hoped to find.

What do you think?

Happy Thanksgiving!

Praise: The Role in Management

"We increase whatever we praise. The whole creation responds to praise, and is glad."

Charles Fillmore
19th Century Religious Philosopher

"The trouble with most of us is that we would rather be ruined by praise than saved by criticism."

Norman Vincent Peale
20th Century Preacher/Author

Another case of seemingly dueling quotes; this time regarding the role of praise, both coming from religious people.

I've struggled with this in my career sometimes criticized by those who worked for me as not giving enough praise. In each case I thought a lot about the situation sometimes agreeing that I could have done more but more often than not feeling as Mr. Peale apparently did. Circumstances simply did not justify what would have at best been a false compliment.

How do you handle this?

Alliance Management: Strength in Numbers

"In this new wave of technology, you can't do it all yourself, you have to form alliances."

Carlos Slim Helu
Mexican Businessman

When it comes to alliances there appears to be a limit beyond which business is loath to go.

We understand we literally cannot do "it" by ourselves and form companies; which are alliances among individuals. And in some cases we do align with other companies when we see common benefit being the result, but not as often as could be true.

Every so often circumstances dictate the need for alliances. The "circumstances" today for many banks, auto manufacturers and retailers suggest they align or go out of business. But this is back up against the wall, gun against the temple sort of alignment. Defensive rather than offensive alignment.

Do you look for opportunity to align with others in the normal course of business ?

Public Relations: To What End?

"Regardless of how you feel inside, always try to look like a winner. Even if you are behind, a sustained look of control and confidence can give you a mental edge that results in victory."

Arthur Ashe

"In designated cleanup areas of certain offices, the company has changed the type of wipe-up towels it buys. In a memo to employees, a staffer explained this will lower GM's "cost per wipe."

Wall Street Journal, November 24, 2008
Article discussing the cost saving measures being employed by GM (Click here for article)

Arthur's quote suggests the importance of appearing as though you are winning even when you're not. Is that "spin" and if it is, is that a bad thing? And if you read the WSJ article I think you'll agree they've "spun" the efforts of GM to control costs (you decide whether they did so positively or negatively.)

What is the role of PR? To get the facts out or is it to create the facts? Is there a difference?

Motivation: What Role Does Management Play?

"Nobody motivates today's workers. If it doesn't come from within, it doesn't come."

Herman Cain
Commentator

Few will question the benefit, possibly even the need to have motivated employees particularly in sales but I wonder if Cain is right when he says they must be that way on their own.

Can management create motivation and enthusiasm and if they can is it true by corollary they can take it away?

Managing Imagination: Turning Ideas Into Action

"Imagination gallops; judgment merely walks."

Proverb

I had a meeting today with an individual whose mind syncs well with mine. Whenever we discuss what his business could be our imaginations feed off of each other with ideas flowing like water.

And like (too much) water, too much imagination can be harmful. We now need to put structure to the best of our thoughts, slowing down our imaginations to let judgment review each; discarding the bad, keeping the good.

Some individuals can do one but not the other. What do you think?

Learning: The Silver Lining of Failure

"In great attempts it is glorious even to fail."

Vince Lombardi
Football Coach

There are hundreds if not thousands of quotes regarding failure but none I've read so far that speaks to one critical aspect of the experience. The idea that even in failure there can be victory.

That we will often fail is a given; however what we do when we do is not. Because failures large and small are so much a part of our lives can we really afford not to learn from them; not to look for the cloud's silver lining?

What have you learned?

Strategic Advantage: The Reason I Should Buy From You Is . . .?

"He (Jerry Yang, ex Yahoo CEO) has never even given a convincing answer to the question of what Yahoo!’s strategy should be in an ideal world. To be a “starting point” for half a billion web surfers, Mr Yang likes to say. But how is that different from the old “portal” idea which stopped working long ago, or the search box that Google in effect controls?"

The Economist
November 15, 2008

At its core, a company's strategy statement is a declaration of why the company exists; the reason customers should consider buying what it sells. It is the foundation upon which all business plans are built.

If a potential customer walked into your office and asked you why they should consider buying from you, what would you say? If you have a clearly defined strategic statement that unequivocally separates you from the competition, you know.

And if you don't . . .

Decision Making: Swimming in Circles

"The only thing that interferes with my learning is my education."

"We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them."

Albert Einstein

These two quotes allude to the same thing: the need to continually review the process that leads to the decisions we make.

It is very easy to fall into a pattern of circular thinking. I think it therefore it is. But the obvious danger in doing this is self-fulfilling prophecy.

That would be OK if all our decisions were good ones but when they're not . . .

How (do) you challenge your decision making process?

Management: Influence IS Authority!

"The key to successful leadership is influence, not authority."

Kenneth Blanchard

Co-Author
"One Minute Manager"

In many respects a bad analogy but I'll go with it anyway.

Long ago I learned that the best approach to parenting my now two young adult sons was to try to influence them to reach the conclusion I thought was best as opposed to just telling them what I wanted done.

It doesn't always work, they don't always listen but they do more than not, particularly the older they get. And they certainly do more than when I just told them "Do what I say!"

In my experience the boss/employee relationship is similar. You can order an employee to do whatever you want and most will . . . at least until they find a new job.

But your way isn't necessarily the best way all the time. Better to make clear the goal, step back and let the employee achieve the desired result.

How do I know? I've learned a lot from my boys.

What do you think?

Recession Management: Take Action Now!

"You recover from a recession with tomorrow's products, not today's."

Sean Maloney
Intel EVP and Chief Sales and Marketing Officer

This quote was in today's Wall Street Journal and no doubt numerous other business dailies discussing Intel's introduction of a new family of high speed chips formerly called i7; hence forth code name Nehalem.

What we will be in the future depends on what we do in the present. If we do nothing we will at best be what we have been but only at best. More likely we will be something less because others will have moved forward while we stood still.

Do you have an i7 in the works? What are you doing to proactively change your future?

Perspective

"Challenges are what make life interesting; overcoming them is what makes life meaningful."

Joshua J. Marine

Those who lost their homes in tonight's Southern California fires don't see these events as "challenging" or certainly "interesting"; only one word applies and that is devastating.

But nights like this puts our business challenges in perspective. What may have seemed too much to deal with no longer is and in that there is hope for us all.

Hard Times Management: The Time to Change

"The greatest inspiration is often born of desperation."

Comer Cottrell
Businessman

When all goes well some people, myself included, sometimes get comfortable not looking to change things. It's only when challenged that we are forced to look for alternatives.

Well we're certainly not comfortable now and because we are not there are a growing number of us searching for "alternatives."

On the one hand I wish things were better economically but precisely because they are not I see in myself a re-energized examination of all things in my professional life.

Already I am making changes in both me and my business I wish I had thought to make before things got ugly. But of greater importance I look around and see I am not alone and that others are as well.

How about you?

Independence in Groups: All For One and One For All?

"Follow the path of the unsafe, independent thinker. Expose your ideas to the dangers of controversy. Speak your mind and fear less the label of 'crackpot' than the stigma of conformity. And on issues that seem important to you, stand up and be counted at any cost."

Thomas J. Watson, Senior
First IBM CEO

Always easier for the boss to say than it is for the people who work for him to do. And doesn't it seem like there is often an inverse relationship between a CEO's calls for independent thinking and how much independence the staff actually exhibits?

There can only be two reasons for that. One, staff does not think independently or two, they could but fear showing their independence.

How do we encourage cohesive group action (see previous posts) while at the same time encouraging independent thinking?

Inspirational Management: True Leadership

"The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires."

William Arthur Ward
Author

Based on the reaction to previous quotes it appears we have consensus about the importance of team building and the closely related need for managers to help others succeed.

In other words managers are teachers. If so shouldn't the companies they work for look for many of the same qualities in their managers that educational institutions attempt to find in the teacher they hire?

As a minimum teachers must teach, managers manage but if they are to also inspire, how do we find those who stand above the rest?

Results: Who Will Take the Fall?

"Remember, people will judge you by your actions, not your intentions."

Anonymous

To which I will add it matters little why something that was supposed to have been done wasn't. As this quote points out the world rewards action rather than intentions and/or for a list of things that prevented one from achieving results.

I totally agree however what responsibility if any does senior management have to make sure their direct reports can succeed? Or is it just a matter of "do it or else"?

Recession Management: Now More Than Ever, Out of the Box!

"Anyone who lives within their means suffers from a lack of imagination."

Oscar Wilde
Author/Playwright/Poet

Because Wilde was in the arts I am sure he wasn't thinking about business when he said that. Still with some paraphrasing it does apply particularly in these difficult times.


How about "Anyone who continues to conduct their business as they have in the past suffers from a lack of imagination."

Of course there are those who would say this is no time to be imaginative given all the uncertainty that exists but when hasn't that been true? We have at least mild recession every 5 to 10 years so sooner or later we will have to manage in less than stellar economic conditions.

Since so little is known about where our economy is headed, now may be exactly the right time to rethink all aspects of our business.

Rating Managers: What's Your Number?

"People, materials, facilities, money, and time are the resources available to us for conducting our business. By applying our skills, we turn these resources into useful products and services. If we do a good job, customers pay us more for our products than the sum of our costs in producing and distributing them. This difference, our profit, represents the value we add to the resources we utilize."

David Packard
Co Founder Hewlett-Packard

I can't imagine a better way to determine the value of management. If you manage your resources well, including the people who work in your company, including yourself, you make money and if you don't . . .

But I've never seen this done. Typically when a company is in trouble the tendency is to cite all manner of things as the cause, all except management.

What if we developed a universally accepted score that would follow all managers throughout their career; a number that ties them to the performance in their previous positions? Maybe something like a FICA score or a credit rating all fed into some central manager BCS rating computer. The equivalent of GPA's and GMAT or SAT scores in school.

Scary isn't it?

The Organization: One or Many?

"The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself."

Friedrich Nietzsche
German Philosopher

The entrepreneur in me loves this. Rugged individualist to the end standing against the oppression of the group, etc., etc. However as a business owner I know that you go nowhere alone.

Successful organizations are built on the harmonious, integrated contributions of many while at the same time, the best companies are those that can access the inspiration that only comes from each individual.

So how do we do this? How do we celebrate the individual while at the same time integrating them into the "tribe"?

Listening: The Active Manager

"In business many a man would rather you heard his story than granted his request."

Philip Dormer Stanhope
18th Century English Lord

This reminds me of something I've followed throughout my career. I didn't need those I worked for to always do what I thought should be done but I felt much better and worked much harder when I knew they understand what that was.

On the surface management is about making decisions, acting and telling others what to do but what about listening and in turn asking questions? Isn't listening also doing?

What percent of a manager's time should be spent telling their subordinates what to do as opposed to listening to what they have to say?

Adversity: The Ultimate Leveler

"Adversity has the effect of eliciting talents, which in prosperous circumstances would have lain dormant."

Horace
1st Century BC Poet

Does adversity "elicit dormant talent"? That sounds like the talent just naturally, unstoppably bubbles to the surface. Does it or do we need to purposely identify and eliminate those who don't perform? What happens if we don't?

We are in difficult times. How is your management reacting? Doing nothing, blanket cuts or thoughtful reaction to what for all is the biggest challenge to management in our lifetimes?

In the past poor performers were often referred to as "empty suits". These days it appears we have some wearing nothing at all and they've got to go.

Risk Management: How Much is Too Much?

"Make the choice adventurous stranger, strike the bell and bide the danger or wonder 'till it drives you mad what would have happened if you had."

C.S. Lewis
Author

My personal philosophy regarding risk results in me doing some things I later regret. But as Lewis said I don't want to one day sit, shawl over shoulders, wondering what would have happened if I only had . . . So far so good; I have regrets for some of it but many more great memories that never would have happened had I not acted.

Fine for a personal philosophy but what about taking risk in business particularly in a public company? How does management decide what is too risky? Is it ever appropriate to "bet the farm"?

Office Politics: Is It Ever a Good Thing?

"To succeed in politics, it is often necessary to rise above your principles."

Anon
Greek Philosopher

This day after our national election it seemed appropriate to have a political quote; one that absolutely fits the political scene and whether we want to admit it or not, often office politics as well.

One person in a company, no politics. Two people, arguably no politics (although I believe it is politics when one tries to manipulate the other.) Three or more; you've got politics with the only questions being, how much?

Is the presence of office politics automatically bad?

What Now?: Questions Are the Answers!

"You can tell whether a man is clever by his answers. You can tell whether a man is wise by his questions."

Naguib Mahfouz
Egyptian born author
1988 Nobel Prize for Literature

This reminds me of Peter Drucker's quote featured in an earlier post. Wisdom is knowing that you don't know more than you do and that asking (the right) questions is the first step to gaining wisdom.

Both Drucker and Mahfouz are suggesting if not saying that asking questions is a sign of courage because so many of us are afraid to admit all that we don't know.

What do you need to know?

Decision Making: Controlling Events, Being Controlled by Events

"Get the habit of analysis-analysis will in time enable synthesis to become your habit of mind."

Frank Lloyd Wright

Mr. Wright was suggesting that developing a framework for reaching decisions is beneficial and once in place, habitual.

I've observed in the companies I've worked with that decision making is based on one of three scenarios:

1. One way one time, another the next with no discernible pattern.
2. By default as a result of no decision being reached (the decision is not consciously made and events dictate what happens.)
3. The result of being subjected to a repeatable process in which facts and assumptions are "processed" with the outcome being a conscious decision.

By far the third option is both the most preferable and least used. As with planning, good processes to make decisions are not readily apparent, don't just happen and need to be purposely created.

Were you told how your company reaches decisions when you joined? Have you ever been in a meeting where the topic was "Develop Process to Make Decisions"?