Ep 105 | How to Make Important Decisions with Brian Gubernick

Thank you for joining me today. It's Brian Gubernick and welcome to the No Days Off podcast, where we believe that every single day brings a new opportunity to get better. Today I want to get better at making important decisions. At No Days Off past episodes, we have talked a lot around decision-making, because call it what it is, the best leaders out there, they have to make tough decisions. And so we focus on decisions all the time. But when I went back through some of our past lessons, some of our past episodes, it occurred to me that we've talked about components of the decision-making process, but we've never really gone from start to finish in terms of how to make important decisions, what all of the steps are and how that plays out. In the decision-making process, that, that decision-making system, right? So today I want to go through the multiple steps that are required, things that we should not violate if in fact we want to make an important decision. And why did this come about for me? No surprise, family had to make some difficult decisions as of late. The kids were participating in these difficult decisions. This one particular decision, and we needed a process, right? And naturally, given the— given what I do and what I talk around all day, I do have a bit more process built around decision-making, but the rest of my family members do not operate in the same world. And so, especially the kids, is all somewhat new. So we wanted to make a great decision, or the best one we have with the available data. And most importantly to me, I I didn't want it to be an emotional decision. I want it to be based on objective data and doing the best we can, because it's not always going to— we're not always going to pull all emotion out, but doing the best we can to make an educated strategic decision, not driven by variables that shouldn't be driving the decision to be made. So let's go through the steps. Okay. Number 1, in making important decisions, The first thing we must do is very clearly define the decision to be made. We've got to articulate the decision that in fact has to be made. Now, I know that may sound like, uh, not a very difficult task, but the reality is oftentimes when we make poor decisions, it's because we misdefine or we don't define at all the objective, the decision that even needs to be made. In other words, we may be addressing something that is not necessarily the most critical factor to consider, or that's under evaluation. So we've got to understand the problem. We've got to understand the opportunity, or we've got to understand the challenge that we're facing. We've got to define it. Next, once we've defined this decision, I think we've got to gather intel. We've got to get the data. We got to get the facts. We've have— we have to get the information related to this decision? Like, what's important? What do we have to consider? What's the math behind it? What's the numbers behind it? What's, you know, who are the people involved? What are the quantitative and qualitative aspects to this particular decision? So we've got to gather all of the information. I'm not saying you necessarily over-gather because you can paralyze yourself in this particular step. But I'm simply saying, let's get our information together so we can make an educated call. After we've defined the decision and we've gathered information, we've got to identify alternatives. So I want to generate a list of potential options, a list of potential solutions, and I want to generate that list. Like, what are the alternatives? What are our options available to us? And if you've listened to past episodes, you know, how important I believe it is. If you're going to make a good decision, you've got to create more options. So I want to gather all these alternatives and I even may want to put the pencil down and come back to it a couple hours later and see if I have a few more options that I didn't think of on the first go-round. So I want to identify all options so I can explore a variety of, of different alternatives. Okay. Next step, number 4, we have all these options. Now we've got to evaluate. So we've got to assess each option based on the relevant criteria, like potential outcomes, like risks, like benefits, like alignment with your goals. This may be, you know, one of those SWOT analysis opportunities. So we're going to evaluate our options. After we've evaluated the options, the next step, we've got to prioritize or rank the criteria based on importance to us and importance to the decision at hand. So what will this do? This will help us objectively compare the options versus emotionally or subjectively compare the options. After we've prioritized this criteria, now we can get to the next step, which is analyzing the pros and cons. So what are the pros and cons of each option? And, and come up with a visual comparison if you can, that helps you identify the potential trade-offs. And then the last two things, seek input, get an outsider's opinion, talk to someone you trust, maybe find someone that's been through a similar, uh, scenario or might have expertise in the particular area that you're analyzing. Get a different perspective. Try to get insights that you hadn't considered. And then lastly, before actually making the decision, trust your intuition, trust your gut. Data-driven decisions are awesome. They're important, but I wouldn't completely discount how you feel in your, in your, in your intuition, in your gut. Sometimes that gut feeling can really do a good job. In terms of guiding you. Now, I don't want to default to my gut. I want to underwrite the decision fully. But at the end of that, I will ask myself, okay, how do I feel? You know, what's, what's my gut feeling here? And then I'm going to make a decision. So the steps to recap: define the decision, gather information, identify the options, the alternatives, evaluate these options, prioritize the the ranking criteria, analyze the pros and cons, seek input, trust your gut, trust your intuition, and then make a decision. Now, if you go through those steps, if you go through those steps, I can promise you, you will make a better decision than you would had you not gone through those steps. It is literally impossible. To not go through those steps and come out with a better decision than you would have if you did not go through those steps. Now, what does it take to go through the Define the Decision, Gather Information, Identify Options, Evaluate the Options, Prioritize the Criteria, Analyze Pros and Cons, Seek Input, Trust Your Gut, and Make a Decision? What does it take? Well, it takes time, and that might be the secret sauce In making important decisions. This is a past podcast episode. It's worth listening to. But in addition to creating more options, I think creating more time, creating more space, getting out of the emotional state, getting out of the honeymoon phase, analyzing a decision, taking calculated steps, and then making that decision. I'm not saying that your, your decision is going to be a perfect one. but I'm going to tell you, you have a hell of a lot higher chance of making a good decision if in fact you take the time to go through that process. So the focusing question for you, what important decisions or decision do you have to make in the near future? How can you use this multi-step process, take the time, go through these steps and come up with a decision that is likely going to be better than the alternative of not going through the steps. Where can you use this? How can you apply this? Again, what decision do you have coming up that you could pull this framework out and apply it immediately and therefore make a better decision? That's all I have for you today. The No Days Off podcast. Thank you so much for listening. And remember, every single day brings a new opportunity to to get better. So let's get after it.