Facts and steps required in making good business decision

                                                    

1. Good decisions combine emotion and rigorous analysis.

2. Try Edward de Bono’s six thinking hats:

— blue: purpose of thinking;

— Red: raw emotion;

— yellow: advantages;

— green: possibilities;

— black: risks and difficulties;

— white: information needed to make a decision.

3. Most decisions fail through insufficient black or white hat thinking.

4. Insufficient yellow and/or green hat thinking can mean lost opportunity.

5. Distinguish between ‘known’, ‘unclear’ and ‘assumed’.

6. Beware the known facts as they may turn out to be assumption.           

7. All else equal, give raw emotion thinking the casting vote.