Maggie's Farm

I love the HBR blog! The study of leadership is endlessly fascinating and entertaining. It is particularly fun to read the comments on each blog article...every theorist receives feedback from the masses and the feedback is just as interesting as the article! It is almost as if the ivory tower has been brought down to earth by the opinion of every commentator.

So, who's right? How do you get beyond anecdote and conjecture, theory and debate? One book I enjoyed recently is Jim Collins's How The Mighty Fall...based on substantial research on good and bad corporate decision making. A real page-turner.

The book also made me wonder how much similarity there is between corporate and personal decision making. It was tempting to draw a close parallel between the two.

As someone who must advice others primarily in times of crisis and transition I commend you, Joy, on your risk-averse and conservative approach. In my experience, a cautious optimism is a good for personal decision making..

When you have a resource-rich war chest of billions of dollars and an army of advisers and staff, you can be Jack Welch and make a bad decision or two and survive the consequences. But individuals, seeking help, often without much of a social net...must be very very deliberate...as you describe.

Interestingly, Mrs. Welch.. Suzy, former editor of HBR and presumably well-read in this area of leadership, has an book about making value based decisions, based on visualizing consequences in 10 minutes, 10 months, and 10 years: 10-10-10: A Fast and Powerful Way to Get Unstuck in Love, at Work, and with Your Family.