Leadership Book Club
November 2004 Book Club Selection
This month we will be reading Smart Choices: A Practical Guide to Making Better Life Decisions, by
John Hammond, Ralph Keeney, and Howard Raiffa. In this book, you will read about how to make
better decisions and avoid common decision traps, key skills for successful leaders.
Here are some questions to consider as you read this month’s selection:

Consider some good decisions you have made in the past. What did you do right with regard to
the eight elements presented in the book?

Consider some bad decisions you have made in the past. In hindsight, which of the eight
elements were problem areas?

How difficult is it to frame the decision problem? What are the biggest mistakes you make?

How can you define your objectives for the decision so that you are satisfied with the outcome?

What can you do to expand the alternatives you consider?

What value do you see in creating a consequence table to evaluate alternatives?

When there is no perfect solution, how can you objectively evaluate tradeoffs?

How do you currently deal with uncertainty of decisions? What have you learned that might help
you overcome problems with uncertainty?

What is your risk tolerance? Is there anything that you should change about the way you
perceive risks?

How effective are you at spotting linked decisions? What impact could this ability have on your
leadership potential?

What psychological traps do you face? How does that affect the decisions you make?
Consider taking this action before we meet to discuss the book:
 Identify a current decision you must make and try to apply the process to that decision.
 Identify one element of decision making that you will try to change.