Decision making is simultaneously the best skill you can learn, and the
hardest skill to actually master.
You can take classes in a number of different areas of business, from
finance to client relationship management, and there’s a specific set of
knowledge you can acquire to become adept in those areas.
1. THE GUT INSTINCT FOLLOWER
 The gut instinct follower is probably the simplest
decision maker on this list, but that doesn’t mean
this is a bad way to make decisions.
 When confronted with two possibilities and a
handful of information on each, the instinct follower
will generally form an immediate impression, and
side with wherever that impression lands.
 On the surface, this may seem like a faulty or
superficial way to make decisions, but the human
brain is programmed to make snap judgments,
and it’s pretty good at it.
 The interviewer doesn’t like to make
decisions alone. When confronted with a
tough choice, even if she’s leaning one way
or the other, she’ll seek out alternative
opinions and perspectives almost
compulsively.
 She’ll ask her top advisors, her peers, her
employees, and maybe even her friends
and family what they think about the
matter.
 This doesn’t mean she lets other people
make decisions for her, but she does factor
in their insights and opinions to a
significant degree.
3. THE EXHAUSTIVE
RESEARCHER
 What makes the researcher unique, however,
is the process. The researcher will continue to
draw in new information about the situation
from as many sources as possible, hoping to
find some nugget of data that will lead him to
a definitive conclusion.
 The exhaustive researcher can benefit from
expanding his research sources and
acknowledging that no one piece of evidence
will be enough to make any decision
complete.
 This is the type of person who sketches out
exhaustive pro/con lists, and tries to boil
down the decision to a quantifiable level.
 On the surface, the debater seems to be the
most logical, and therefore the most
effective decision maker in the bunch.
 However, there are a handful of potential
pitfalls to this approach.
 It’s hard to compensate for these, but the
best way is to remain as distant as possible;
try not to lean too heavily on your system,
and understand that few decisions have an
objectively better choice.
5. THE RANDOM CHANCE
SUBMITTER
 You might have done your research and evaluated the options
carefully, but if you reach the point where there still isn’t a
clear option, a coin flip is the way to go.
 This isn’t the best way to make a decision, but it’s a decent
enough standby, especially if you maximize your chances of
success by only considering the worthwhile options to begin
with.
 I’d be lying if I said this model is rigid, or that everyone in the
world neatly adheres to it, but it can help you better
understand the methods you use to make decisions, and quite
possibly, make you a better decision maker in general.