WTAF are Choice and Decision?
Moving with intention by creating choices and taking decisive action.
I am always looking to create a choice. Choices are options. Choice is empowering. When I am at a crossroads looking for a path forward, I seek to understand and negotiate my options. Deciding on the path forward: to stay or to go? Option A, B or C? I find open-ended paths that give me the most benefit without irreversible, sticky, or tangled commitments. Choice provides the power to determine which direction to travel, to have control or influence on the way you get to a destination.
Empowering Options
I characterize my ambition as driven by intention without specificity. I work with purpose, I maintain clear values, but I’m not necessarily certain of my end goal. I have lots of interests and am constantly curious about what new project I might work on.
Case in point: in high school, I knew the types of purposeful work in my life that I wanted (solve problems, collaborate, lead, etc.) but didn’t know exactly what that work would look like. I did know that I could do this type of work in many fields that would leverage my strengths: I loved language and excelled in math and science.
When thinking about my future, specifically the practical task of getting a job, I figured that math and science were strengths that would unlock more potential paths than my strength in communications. My language skills, I reasoned - writing, speaking, comprehending - could be more valuable as differentiators along an analytical / STEM path. In the late 90’s/early 2000’s, STEM was a direction with seemingly more employment opportunities. Pretty practical for an 18 year old.
I decided to go to the University of Florida (Go Gators!), a decision that allowed me great flexibility, and enrolled in the UF College of Engineering as the path toward that practical future. Prior to selecting my major, I took an Intro to Engineering course where students toured each department. Industrial and Systems Engineering sold me with a video that explained I could work for an airline, a consulting firm, a theme park, the military, a hospital … a magical proposition for an undecided student. A path that opened up more options.
Choice provides the power to determine which direction to travel, to have control or influence on the way you get to a destination.
Upon graduation, I had choices: specialize in supply chain at an automotive supplier, specialize in manufacturing for an industrial products company, or join a management consulting firm. I took the consulting offer. The consulting path provided an opportunity to work across industries and explore business functions. I could have exposure to more paths, positioning me for a future with a greater span of options and choice.
My decision making process at each step was to figure out which path would give me the most future flexibility. In hindsight, I would say that I identified flexibility as a key decision criteria. This is important because flexibility and choice increase the amount of control and autonomy you have around your future.
Flexibility and choice increase the amount of control and autonomy you have around your future
Decision is Action
Inaction is avoidance. We know this as analysis paralysis; looking for other options and more choices when there are viable paths forward. Few decisions are permanent and forever.
Amazon’s culture values high-quality, high velocity decisions. They operate with a mental model that they call “one-way and two-way doors”.
A one-way door decision is one that has significant and often irrevocable consequences—building a fulfillment or data center is an example of a decision that requires a lot of capital expenditure, planning, resources, and thus requires deep and careful analysis. A two-way door decision, on the other hand, is one that has limited and reversible consequences: A/B testing a feature on a site detail page or a mobile app is a basic but elegant example of a reversible decision.
When you step back and look at the decisions you make, you may find that the most of them are two-way door decisions. When we see a two-way door decision, and have enough evidence and reason to believe it could provide a benefit for customers, we simply walk through it. You want to encourage your leaders and employees to act with only about 70% of the data they wish they had—waiting for 90% or more means you are likely moving too slow. And with the ability to easily reverse two-way door decisions, you lower the cost of failure and are able to learn valuable lessons that you can apply in your next innovation.
- Daniel Slater, Worldwide Lead, Culture of Innovation, AWS
Make a decision that has the lowest switching cost. Act. Do. Move. Refuse to be Buridan’s ass1. Stop delaying and take action with a decision.
Decision doesn’t necessarily mean change. A decision can be to stay the current course with conviction. Decision is action. A decisive path forward supports your purpose, your why, your intention. However, sometimes having clarity around that purpose can be elusive.
Flexibility to Achieve Clarity
There are times when you have an intention and a general direction, but don’t know exactly where you’re going. This is when you need flexibility to be nimble and agility to move to the right path when the destination becomes clear. The goal is not to know exactly where you will end up, but rather to have the ability to course correct as you learn more about your specific target.
When I studied supply chain management, I learned about delayed differentiation, or postponement. If you are able to postpone the steps that make an item unique until the end, you keep the most flexibility for the product and have less waste and rework. The clothing company Benetton would make their sweaters all white, later dying the product only when they knew the season’s color preferences and customer demand. This approach gave them much more flexibility, less waste, and greater profit than purchasing dyed yarn to knit the sweaters.
You can both make a decision and postpone the actions with the highest investment for later. Learn what you need and build confidence until you know for sure you want to move ahead on that singular path. Buy the yarn, knit the sweater, but don’t dye it until you know the exact shade you want. Maintain a many-forked path and you remain flexible and open.
Maintain a many-forked path and you remain flexible and open.
Create Choice → Decide → Act → Repeat
As we move through the world, we will be faced with crossroads. Work to create options and expand your choices… but do not get lost in the quest for choices. Determine your decision criteria and make decisions by testing the choices against that criteria and your values. What will give you the most fulfillment? Where are you most likely to meet your own expectations? Act and take charge of your personal outcome with the best path forward. Rinse and repeat…
“Buridan's ass a paradox whereby a hungry and thirsty donkey, placed between a bundle of hay and a pail of water, would die of hunger and thirst because there was no reason for him to choose one resource over the other. It is said to bave been constructed by the French philosopher Jean Buridan (c.1295–c.1358), who studied under William of Ockham.” The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable
Well written with practical advice and ways to activate progress and productivity. ‘Choice and Decision’ should guide our actions, if we are aware of them. It is essential that we ARE aware of them for our own success!