How to Decide
One book, placed in its field — what Annie Duke's book gets right, where it goes further than the rest, and what the rest of the field adds.
Mike West, Editor · HR Leader Guide · get2great.com/guides/profile-how_to_decide
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How to Decide
One book, placed in its field — what Annie Duke's book gets right, where it goes further than the rest, and what the rest of the field adds.
Mike West, Editor · HR Leader Guide · get2great.com/guides/profile-how_to_decide
The problem
Decision Quality & Satisfaction erodes when it is left to instinct instead of method.
You were taught the moves piecemeal, never the whole model.
How to Decide · Mike West, Editor · HR Leader Guide
The model
- 01Choice Architecture & Informational Inputs
- 02Reference Points
- 03Motivational Control Panel (Goals, Mindsets, Regulatory Focus, Evolutionary Drives)
- 04Cognitive Processing Mode (System 1 vs System 2)
- 05Executive (Ego) Resource Availability
- 06Emotional State & Appraisal Tendencies
- 07Heuristics, Habits & Simplifying Rules
- 08Social & Nonconscious Influences
How to Decide · Mike West, Editor · HR Leader Guide
Step 1 of 5 · Choice Architecture & Informational Inputs
If your preference reverses when you reframe the same options, the architecture is driving you, not the substance.
Misconception
Practitioners believe a good decider can see through framing and defaults to evaluate the 'real' options underneath.
Reality
Framing and defaults do not sit on top of preferences; they help construct them in the moment, so the same person will pick differently from a gain-frame versus a loss-frame menu even with identical underlying facts.
How to Decide · Mike West, Editor · HR Leader Guide
Step 2 of 5 · Reference Points
Whether an outcome is a 'gain' or 'loss' is a choice of baseline, not a fact—pick the baseline deliberately.
Misconception
People assume they evaluate outcomes against their actual current situation or absolute value.
Reality
Reference points are contextual and often arbitrary—the first price you saw, the option you almost had, or what a peer got—so satisfaction tracks the gap from that anchor rather than the outcome itself.
How to Decide · Mike West, Editor · HR Leader Guide
Step 3 of 5 · Motivational Control Panel (Goals, Mindsets, Regulatory Focus, Evolutionary Drives)
Name the active goal before you decide; the wrong one being 'on' distorts every subsequent weighting.
Misconception
Deciders think their goals are stable and that they bring a consistent 'self' to every decision.
Reality
Motivational states are transient and situationally triggered; a promotion focus makes you chase upside while a prevention focus makes you guard against loss, and whichever is momentarily active reshapes what 'right' feels like.
How to Decide · Mike West, Editor · HR Leader Guide
Step 4 of 5 · Cognitive Processing Mode (System 1 vs System 2)
Match processing mode to the decision: intuition for calibrated-experience domains, deliberation for the novel and high-stakes.
Misconception
People believe careful System 2 deliberation is always superior and that they should override intuition whenever they can.
Reality
The two systems interact in multiple ways—System 2 often just rationalizes a System 1 verdict—and in domains where you have rich, valid experience, fast processing outperforms labored analysis.
How to Decide · Mike West, Editor · HR Leader Guide
Step 5 of 5 · Executive (Ego) Resource Availability
Time hard decisions to your peaks of self-regulatory fuel, not to when they happen to arise.
Misconception
Deciders treat willpower and deliberation as available on demand, assuming they can 'buckle down' for any decision at any time.
Reality
Self-regulatory capacity is a limited pool drained by prior acts of attention, emotion regulation, and restraint; once it runs low you default to whatever is easiest, not what is best.
How to Decide · Mike West, Editor · HR Leader Guide
A framework to use
The Four Rs of Decision Making
This framework is part of the full guide. See the guide →
How to Decide · Mike West, Editor · HR Leader Guide
The cheat sheet
- Choice Architecture & Informational InputsIf your preference reverses when you reframe the same options, the architecture is driving you, not the substance.
- Reference PointsWhether an outcome is a 'gain' or 'loss' is a choice of baseline, not a fact—pick the baseline deliberately.
- Motivational Control Panel (Goals, Mindsets, Regulatory Focus, Evolutionary Drives)Name the active goal before you decide; the wrong one being 'on' distorts every subsequent weighting.
- Cognitive Processing Mode (System 1 vs System 2)Match processing mode to the decision: intuition for calibrated-experience domains, deliberation for the novel and high-stakes.
- Executive (Ego) Resource AvailabilityTime hard decisions to your peaks of self-regulatory fuel, not to when they happen to arise.
- Emotional State & Appraisal TendenciesIdentify the specific emotion; its appraisal profile tells you precisely how it is biasing risk and confidence.
- Heuristics, Habits & Simplifying RulesKnowing a bias exists does not neutralize it; you need a concrete procedure targeted at each specific shortcut.
- Social & Nonconscious InfluencesThe absence of feeling persuaded is not evidence you weren't influenced—it's the signature of effective influence.
How to Decide · Mike West, Editor · HR Leader Guide
Sources
- How to Decide — Annie Duke
How to Decide · Mike West, Editor · HR Leader Guide