1. Global Marketing
Andre Piazza @AndreAtDell
http://linkd.in/andrepiazza
Andre Piazza @AndreAtDell

2. Why decisions matter today
more than ever?
• Pervasive
• Increased access to information
• Variety of options
• More stakeholders
• Pressure to decide faster
• Limited ability to make decisions daily
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3. We make a variety of decisions
through life
Lifecycle
– Education
– Transportation
– Health
– Housing
Professional
– Career
– Employment
Financial
– Savings
– 401K
Lifestyle
– Family
– Romantic
Routine
– Do / don’t; go / no go
– Priorities
Civic
– Elections
– Jury Duty
– Military
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24

4. Our quest for great decisions
Executive Decisions: improving choices in a speedy world @AndreAtDell 4
poor decisions
great decisions

5. What is a great decision?
1. Achieve goals
2. Aligned with beliefs, values
3. Addresses (implicit, explicit) expectations
from everyone involved
in various degrees… hopefully as close to
expectations as possible
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6. Why Smart Executives Fail?
Source: Dr. Sydney Finklestein, PhD
“Why Smart Executives Fail?”
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1. See their companies as dominating
their environments
2.No boundaries between personal /
corporate interests
3.Seem to have all the answers
4.Ensure 100% worshipers, ruthlessly
eliminating anyone else
5.Excessive efforts to develop an image
6.Treat intimidating obstacles as
temporary impediments
7. Return to the recipe that made them
successful in the first place

7. Simplistic answers don’t guarantee success
1. See their companies as
dominating their
environments
2. No boundaries between
personal / corporate interests
3. Seem to have all the answers
4. Ensure 100% worshipers,
ruthlessly eliminating anyone
else
5. Excessive efforts to develop
an image
6. Treat intimidating obstacles
as temporary impediments
7. Return to the recipe that
made them successful in the
first place
Don’t be arrogant
Don’t be self-serving /
self-centered
Think before you decide
Be inclusive; Don’t be evil
Focus on action
Don’t underestimate the
obstacles
Don’t be a one-trick pony
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8. there’s more to this quest than just
avoiding bad behaviors
poor decisions
great decisions
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9. 5 tips for great Executive
decisions
W
R
A
P
P
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10. 5 tips for great Executive
decisions
Widen your options
Reality-test your assumptions
Attain emotional distance
Prepare for success (or failure)
Pursue a process
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11. 5 tips for great Executive
decisions
Executive Decisions: improving choices in a speedy world @AndreAtDell 11
options validate implicationschallenge sustainability

12. Widen your options
• Focus on creating alternatives
• Avoid a narrow frame
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13. Widen your options
Avoid a narrow frame
FROM: Should I do < A >: yes or no?
Should I do < A > or < B >?
• are you solving the right problem?
• limited to 1 course of action
TO: What If I do < A > and < B >?
• creates options
• enables multi-tracking: multiple courses of action
ALTERNATIVE: What’s the best way to achieve <
goal >?
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14. Reality-test your assumptions
• Develop early warning systems
• Prototype early
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15. Vote: choose to hear a story
from the career of
Bob Dylan David Bowie Van Halen
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16. Van Halen’s contract in the 70s
demanded a bowl with no brown M&Ms
available backstage.
Penalty was forfeiture of the contract.
This ingenious early warning system
checked if venue would meet band’s
sound & safety requirements.
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Reality-test your assumptions
Early warning systems

17. Reality-test your assumptions
Prototype early
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18. Attain emotional distance
• Challenge your own biases
• What would you tell a friend to do?
• Empathize first
• Check the facts
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19. Attain emotional distance
A word about the very nature of decisions
1. Decisions are primarily emotional processes
2. Illuminated by facts, experience, intuition,
knowledge
3. With the backdrop of circumstances
To improve your decision-making skills,
you need to learn to effectively
navigate each of these elements
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20. Attain emotional distance
"People seldom do what
they believe in.
They do what is
convenient, and then
repent."
Bob Dylan
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21. Attain emotional distance
Challenge your own biases
Executive Decisions: improving choices in a speedy world @AndreAtDell 21
Your Bob Dylan choice
Halo effect

22. Attain emotional distance
Challenge your own biases
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Your David Bowie
choice
eCommerce and Retail

23. Attain emotional distance
What would you tell a friend to do?
WHAT: solution
WHY: narrative
MOTIVATIONS: goals beliefs values priorities
Tip: Elicit the deeper levels, and use that
information for persuasion and influence
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24. Attain emotional distance
Empathize First
Brené Brown: The Power of Empathy (2:53)
David Wallace: This is Water (9:22)
Sheena Iyengar: The art of choosing (24:08)
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Ivy Brashear: Empathizing w/ opposing party

25. Attain emotional distance
Check the facts
Example: Performance Dashboards
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26. Prepare for success (or failure)
• Fallback positions
• Contingencies
• Entry and exit strategies
• Learning from failure
The First 90 Days: Proven
Strategies for Getting Up to
Speed Faster and Smarter
by Michael D. Watkins
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27. Pursue a process
The higher…
• the stakes
• the length of the decision
• the number of people involved
… the more you need a process to decide
Ask HOW to understand:
- criteria
- sequence of steps
- define responsibilities
- duration
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28. Pursue a process (cted.)
It doesn’t have to be like this…
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29. Pursue a process (cted.)
In general: the simpler, the better
TIP: For simple yet ingenuous solutions, establish:
1. triggers
2. rules of engagement
3. team operating agreement
Process ensures transparency and alignment with
everyone involved
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SAMPLE: Team Operating
Agreement results in a team

30. Pursue a process - example
Ben Franklin’s decision making process
1. List the PROS, and apply weighted averages
2. List the CONS, and apply weighted averages
3. Sum both
4. Decide based on higher score
Advantages:
• Simple
• Quickly determines the best choice
Limitations:
• Narrow frame
• Prone to biases
• Doesn’t scale to complex decisions
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31. Pursue a process – Venture Capitalist
“I have struggled with the sell decisions over the course of
my career. I have held on way too long and watched a
stock literally go all the way to zero without selling it
(ouch). And I have made the even worse decision of selling
too soon and watching a stock go up 3-5x from where I
sold it.
So where I have landed on selling (decisions) is to make it
formulaic and systematic. We also let the people know
that is our policy so they are not surprised by it. It takes
the emotion out of the decision and it works better for us.”
@FredWilson
Source: http://avc.com/2016/10/selling/
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32. Recap: our journey great
decisions, today
poor decisions
great decisions
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33. 5 tips for great Executive
decisions
Widen your options
Reality-test your assumptions
Attain emotional distance
Prepare for success (or failure)
Pursue a process
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34. Thank You
Andre Piazza @AndreAtDell
http://linkd.in/andrepiazza
@AndreAtDell
Linkedin.com/in/AndrePiazza
"The energy of a Sales maker, the brains of an Engineer"
Andre Piazza
Slideshare.net/Apiazza
Medium.com/@Apiazza

35. Bibliography
A Leader’s Framework for
Decision Making
by David J. Snowden and Mary E.
Boone
Decisive – How to make
better choices in life and
work
by Chip & Dan Heath
Why Smart Executives Fail
by Sydney Finkelstein
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