Decision Trees and Dead Ends

Posted by Roberta Budvietas on Oct 24, 2011 in Behavior, Business, Buyer Experience, Communication, Strategy | 4 comments

History is written by the winners. But history is always written as if the initial decision was what the final result was. The dead ends and bad decisions are always written out. And rarely do we recall that things could have been different if…

In business you will make a lot of decisions. Some will lead to positive results and more decision opportunities. Some will lead to dead ends and you will need to go back to a point where you can make a different decision. Some decisions will also lead off in new directions.

Human nature is funny. We forget the dead ends and when we document the experiences, we only record the decisions that moved us toward our goal.

That is why in business, as in life, it is important to have your purpose for the project clearly in front of you and to write down you goals. That way you can check off your progress on the journey.

And keep in mind that you may decide to alter your goals but only with careful consideration alter your purpose. Goals can change with new information, ideas and circumstances.

You need the goals as markers in your decision tree though as each is a point where you need to decide how to move to the next decision. Your met goal is also the point you can return to if you go down a dead end.

A word of caution – perfect decisions are impossible. Good business owners make decisions as early as practical. If you delay to get all the information, that is a decision and sometimes that decision will cost you in lost opportunity. Procrastination can be good but also bad.

How do you know?

If your head says wait then find out if you are waiting out of fear or something else. If you are afraid of losing face or making a wrong decisions, feel the fear and decide to take action.

Being serious about doing business means making decisions and moving forward.

Roberta

Simplifier, Presenter, Mentor