The Art of High Stakes Decision Making: Tough Calls in a Speed Driven World [Hardcover]

J. Keith Murnighan (Author), John C. Mowen (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0471415766 | ISBN-13: 978-0471415763 | Publication Date: October 12, 2001 | Edition: 1

A highly readable guide with a method for avoiding mistakes when making decisions that will affect the future of your business
The Art of High Stakes Decision Making takes readers to the most important crossroads in business with dozens of real-life scenarios. Engaging "you are there" stories teach how to focus on the core issues involved in high stakes decision making. The authors share powerful tools for cutting through the psychological and emotional barriers to making the best decisions. Each chapter concludes with a set of fundamental principles for successfully navigating each stage of the SCRIPTS method, an acronym that outlines a seven-step process for making tough choices under the gun.
J. Keith Murnighan, PhD (Evanston, IL), is the Harold H. Hines, Jr. Distinguished Professor of Risk Management at the Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University. John C. Mowen, PhD (Stillwater, OK), is Regents Professor and Noble Chair of Marketing Strategy at Oklahoma State University's College of Business Administration.

Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

Time is critical . . . the facts are unclear . . . your business, people's careers, even lives may hang in the balance--and you have to make a decision!

Do you downsize in critical financial times? Should you take your business public or should you hold off? Do you report the unethical behavior of your boss? When it comes to tricky situations like these, flipping a coin just won't cut it.

The Art of High-Stakes Decision-Making takes the guesswork out of difficult choices with a proven, reliable process for analyzing complex, high-risk decisions. The SCRIPTS method features a set of easy-to-remember steps to structure your decision-making in the face of tough calls.

The power of SCRIPTS is illustrated through dramatic true stories in which real people are pushed to the limits of their decision-making abilities. You'll meet the brewpub owners who only had a few weeks to decide whether to go public; the airline pilot who suddenly realized that he was flying straight into a mountain; and the general who had a chance to end the American Civil War after only one year of fighting.

Through these stories and many others, you'll learn how to search for potential problems and opportunities, identify their causes, and assess risks and rewards. You'll also find out how to use your intuition without letting your emotions short-circuit the process. And you'll discover how biases may color your attitudes toward particular options, find ways to consider divergent perspectives, and learn how to avoid making hasty decisions-- even when time is short. Plus, this eye-opening guide provides a simple, three-step procedure for putting it all together and making your decision.

Whether you face a crucial career question, a risky opportunity, or a difficult negotiation, The Art of High-Stakes Decision-Making helps you consider all of the relevant factors and make decisions that are timely, confident, and, most importantly, right.

From the Back Cover

Praise for the art of High-Stakes decision-making

"Most of us make great decisions most of the time. The trouble comes when we make poor decisions, and the consequences are serious. Murnighan and Mowen have shown us how to avoid these kinds of disasters. Not only that, they've provided us with a wealth of research-based information in a completely engaging way. Their stories and their analysis hit the mark."-- Donald Jacobs, Gaylord Freeman Distinguished Professor of Banking, Dean, J. L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management

"As a CEO for the past twenty-two years, I recognize the value of learning about the tribulations and experiences described very clearly in this book. We can improve our performance by examining the way others managed and mismanaged situations."-- Philip Crosby, author of Quality and Me: Lessons from an Evolving Life

"Employing a novel technique and real-life examples, the authors provide the reader a road map for making high-stake decisions in a complex world. Moreover, because the decision-making process suggested utilizes a uniform procedure and a common language, the technique enhances the prospects for effective communication throughout an organization. Don't go to the office without it!"-- Dr. William N. Griggs, Partner, Griggs & Santow Inc.

"Murnighan and Mowen offer a fascinating set of real-world examples that can help executives make wiser high-stakes decisions. This intriguing work offers unique insight into executive decisions through its focus on critical decisions, rather than the common decisions that are [usually] the focus of academic work." -- Max Bazerman, Jesse Isidor Straus Professor of Business Administration, Harvard Business School

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 1 edition (October 12, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0471415766
• ISBN-13: 978-0471415763
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 2.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,441,656 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Simple does not equal simplistic, June 8, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: The Art of High Stakes Decision Making: Tough Calls in a Speed Driven World (Hardcover)

I was extremely disappointed with this book. It uses fancy, sophisticated-sounding but still meaningless lingo to describe commonsense everyday issues. Why complicate something what can be described in simple terms? The author fails to understand that simple does not equal simplistic.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Limited real life applicability of SCRIPT methodology, June 22, 2002

By 

van_hurstenvelt - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Art of High Stakes Decision Making: Tough Calls in a Speed Driven World (Hardcover)

I am in total agreement with the opinion of the reader from Chicago, who rated this book 1 star based on its tendency of overcomplicating straightforward issues in everyday decision making. In addition to this observation, I found that the SCRIPT methodology, the main idea of this book, is only appliacabe to a limited number of decisions and not to ALL as the authors suggest.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Fuzzy....fuzzy, July 5, 2002

By 

steven fox (San Francisco, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Art of High Stakes Decision Making: Tough Calls in a Speed Driven World (Hardcover)

i found this book quite fuzzy, although there are excellent books about decision making out there.