Customer Reviews

Making Great Decisions in Business and Life

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Far too many people see economics as difficult, boring, and totally irrelevant to their daily lives. Henderson and Hooper demonstrate in clear and compelling language that economics is really a straightforward and exciting way to make your life more productive and enjoyable. With a large number of short, interesting and largely diagram-free examples, the authors do exactly what the title of their book promises. They show the reader how to make great decisions in their businesses and their lives. Mentioning two of their many topics, the book emphasizes how easy it is to let your fantasies obscure the realities you face and lead you into harmful decisions with a number of useful examples. There is a wonderful discussion on the importance of considering cost and being careful to distinguish between real cost and what is easily thought of as cost, but isn't.
I will be teaching a one-half semester capstone MBA course on economics in the second half of the spring semester, and this book will be the central reading. I cannot think of a better book to bring home the message I think is crucial for MBA students to understand--that the insights of economics can improve their business skills and make them more effective in all walks of their lives. But you don't need to be an MBA student to benefit from this book. Just someone who enjoys a well-written and interesting book and wants to make better decisions.

This is a good book, easy to read, and more importantly absent business jargon; but there won't be any epiphanies for anyone. The authors do offer some clarity, personal insight, and reinforce traditional methodology to help you make better, more effective, risk tolerant decisions. Essentially they successfully eliminate the fluff found in most textbooks and present the meat in an understandable and practical manner. Utilizing his background in economics, David Henderson provides a nice section on utilizing the margin for decision-making, which I have found is always a most useful skill to have. Other factors I think people tend to get emotional about with negative results are sunk costs and time valuation. There is useful information and lots of examples, anecdotes, and techniques included. At no time do the authors leave you hanging on an abstract concept. Examples and calculations are provided to drive home the idea. My only criticism is that since the book as co-written by two authors they feel some need to frequently tell the reader, with parenthetical initials, who is offering the example or anecdote. It gets a bit annoying, but that may be just my own personal problem. Nonetheless, this is a good, solid book with informative material that will provide a manager at any level, company owner, or master of their domicile good focus for improved decision-making skills.

When was the last time you saw a personal advice book that, instead of using some type of trendy "pop-psychology" approach, applied economic theory? This is what makes David Henderson and Charles Hooper's book Making Great Decisions so unique. At the same time, the authors make the application of economics seem simple. Easily understandable language replaces economic jargon, and the point of a paragraph is never ambiguous.
The book is packed with interesting, real-life examples and conversations. It overflows with personal stories, each to make a point or to illustrate a particular concept.
Most of the economic principles that are applied come right out of Econ 101. For example, the authors advise readers to ignore "sunk costs" (expenses that have already been made, in time or money) when making decisions. In other words, your initial investment, whether in the form of yearlong training to climb Mt. Everest or the establishment of a coin shop, should not be considered when deciding whether to pursue the venture further.
The authors say that one common error made by companies and individuals is assigning the wrong priorities to projects. They point to a company that spent far more money and time deciding how to make company printers more alike than it did determining whether to license a product worth $100 million a year. They should have realized the massive difference in importance between the two problems and divided resources accordingly.
The authors give personal advice throughout the book. "Think on the margin," they say. Henderson gives as an example his procrastination in graduate school, when he needed to complete his dissertation. He estimated that he would have to put in six hours a day to finish his dissertation before the deadline, but instead found himself avoiding the work day after day. The solution, he found, was to aim to work just two hours every day. This modest goal made it easy for Henderson to get started on his work every day, and once he had started, he found it easier to keep going. Think on the margin, the authors advise; even if you can't get a full six hours of writing done, two are better than none.
While the advice is very much apolitical, with the goal of helping the reader make better decisions, the basis for it relies on free-market economic theory. Some parts of the book reflect this essentially libertarian political approach. The authors remind us, for example, that recycling is not free and that, depending on the value of one's time, it may not be worthwhile to sort recyclables and carry them to the curb every week.
They also debunk complaints about sweatshop labor, warning readers beforehand that they are "about to challenge a commonly accepted belief". Sure, the workers have low pay and poor conditions by American standards - but what is their alternative? The foreign workers voluntarily chose "sweatshop" employment over their other choices. Will they be better off if western activists eliminate that option? This issue is cited by the authors as an example of people making the mistake of choosing fantasy over reality. The western activists would like everyone to live well, but don't realize that eliminating jobs, even low-paying ones, is not a solution. Though not generally taking political stances, in the few issues that the authors do take on, their reasoning is well thought out and deserves mention.
David Henderson and Charles Hooper wrap the book up with a short discussion on ethics: Unethical practices are almost always bad business. They point out that your actions will determine what others will think of you, which in turn affects business opportunities. Sticking to form, Henderson gives an example from his business dealings with people. Adam Smith is lauded his idea of "the invisible hand" - the notion that one unintentionally helps society simply by working to make a profit.
In Making Great Decisions, the authors show that economic theory can be applied to everyday life and decision-making. The book flows smoothly with plentiful examples and has a lively writing style. But perhaps most importantly, it is hard to find fault with the advice.

This is a book in which you can learn some economics, you'll actually be fairly glad to learn it and you'll be very glad you know it when you're done reading the book.

One of the disadvantages of teaching economics is an all-too-frequent conversation when meeting people. When someone finds out what I do, they say "That was the hardest course that I took in college." Unfortunately, I also know what's implied. They learned little and probably remember virtually nothing.

And that's a shame. Economics is not just about graphs, obscure equations and abstract notions.

Economics is a useful way of thinking about the world. In this book, you'll see that basic economic notions can be used to help you make decisions in your everyday life. The usefulness is illustrated with many stories, all informative and some amusing.

The authors go further than basic economics, including decision science and thoughtful common sense. For example, you'll find out how David Henderson resolved a problem with hard pillows at an otherwise fine hotel by buying better pillows, and why this made more sense than going to a better hotel. This is the start of a chapter on creating better alternatives, in which the authors make the point that evaluating alternatives requires thought and sometimes imagination.

It's a fun read, besides which it's well written and clear. You're unlikely to be sorry that you read it.

Making Great Decisions is a great book! The authors do not only provide a complete collection of effective decision making tools but also make professional decision making concepts simple to use and simple to understand. The result is a versatile book suitable to support decision makers and problem solvers in various settings. For professionals, it provides a quick reference of important concepts and a guide for the decision making process. For personal decisions, Making Great Decisions is a treasure box of powerful tools without the need for the resources of a corporate headquarters. Beyond decision making, the book also helps with handling complex problems and identifying situations when different techniques of decision making can be useful. As a capstone, the authors also explain the relation between good morals and good decisions - an important lesson to learn in many parts of the world.
The reader will find the book useful in such different environments like the public and private sector, or U.S. and international settings (I work and make decisions in Hungary's public sector). Making Great Decisions will be essential for professionals who need to convince partners with less developed decision making culture of the advantages of formal decision making. Think of joint ventures in emerging markets or reconstruction in Iraq! Cooperation with locals in decision making can be crucial for lasting results, and building trust or winning support is easier if you can explain the process clearly and quickly. Beyond improving their own decisions, personal decision makers can understand how decisions are made by organizations of various scales.
Real life, personal stories transform the learning experience into a recreational activity even for individuals not really fond of management and economic topics. I recommend Making Great Decisions for everyone who wants to handle problems in personal life or carrier more effectively without the risk of loosing important points between the lines of boring textbooks.

I became aware of "Making Great Decisions in Business And Life" by reading a very promising review in the Wall Street Journal.

There is a lot to like in this book, and I found myself making numerous notes in the margins as I read along. Other readers have suggested that a lot of the material amounted to common sense, and I agree. However, if common sense is so common, why is it so often cryptically referred to as common sense?

The point is that some of the chapters created immediate value for me. Chapters entitled, "Ask What Changed" to understand the real story behind the story involving change, and "Knowing What You Want Before You Choose" and "Realize What's Important," were very well written and presented an opportunity for personal reflection - an important reason for reading this type of book.

After I read, "Create Better Alternatives" I used the concept in my business the following day. You have to like that.

In other words, there is a lot from which most people can quickly benefit.

However, this is a review for my fellow Amazon readers, and it is fair to say that you cannot read a book without comparing it to similar books - especially those previously posted for review. Otherwise, how can these reviews be of any assistance to anyone but the reviewer?

"Making Great Decisions ..." is a detailed and interesting. There are numerous examples cited, many of them arising from the biotech/pharmaceutical industries. Some of the stories are very strong, others pretty weak. I think that the reason for the latter is that this book takes too long in the telling. The beginning is much stronger than the ending because the stories are crisper/more relevant/better written.

Somewhere in here the authors probably should have exercised their own thinking about how much time a reader should be devoting to their book. By their formula, reading the entire book was probably a questionable decision in terms of time management (a topic of fomulaic discussion).

Curiously, "Moneyball" is cited by the authors as an excellent book on blending data with economics into actual practice. I agree. And, "Moneyball" is only 35% of the price of "Making Great Decisions." As you will learn from reading "Making Great Decisions", receiving this information will help you to prioritize your purchasing decisions and reading schedule.

The bottom line for me is that this is a good book, and sometimes a very good book, but too seldom one completely worthy of its title.

Loved the book. It confirms so many of the lessons taught to me by my dad and by life. So much of what passes for decision-making in daily life is based on unfounded biases and thoughtlessness. But I digress.

A quick story about arbitrage and the key point that the authors make in Chapter 14 -- a story that causes the zero-sum gang to gasp and talk about unfair mercantilism. In our family, there are 4 boys. When we were young adults, the tough question at Christmas was what to get Mom and Dad, who were particularly difficult to profile from a gifts perspective. In addition, certain of the 4 boys were geographically inconvenient and would fly long distances to make the holiday celebration/x-mas day.

So, if one of the boys came up with the perfect gift for one of our parents, said brother would offer to syndicate gift credit to his brothers. If the gift cost (say) $50, the other brothers would be offered a 1/4th share for $20/each. If all 3 non-buyers participated, the sponsor would receive a $10 profit plus gift credit for doing the legwork and delivering the gift, wrapped and ready.

To me, this solution worked great, in particular as the parents were more interested in quality, thoughtful gifts than quantity. Talk about a win-win -- the approach even motivated the youngest in the crew (me), with the least disposable income, to work the hardest to come up with syndicatable gifts!

Others who have heard the above story have recoiled in horror about such rampant mercantilism and non-holiday spirit. How they miss the boat.

Thanks to the authors for a wonderful, practical, enjoyable book.

Rob Glanville

Sometimes you don't need revolutionary new information to start doing things better, you just need a new way of seeing things. This book did that for me. It offers simple, clear methods of evaluating your choices that allow you to move forward effectively.

I should have bought it sooner, but I couldn't decide.

Bill Dyszel, Author, Microsoft Outlook for Dummies

I've taught Economics for almost ten years and students have always told me that the algebraic formulas and mathematical gobbledygook are the biggest obstacles in the path to Economic Enlightenment. The authors here do an excellent job of getting to the meat of economic theory, without the essentially useless formulas getting in the way.
Why study economic theory? Simple! Just about every decision that you make carries an economic or non-economic cost and accompanying benefit. If the benefits outweigh the costs, you've made the right decision. This book gives you the proper tools to ask the right questions and discover the correct answers in situations both financial and personal. It is easy to read and very interesting...packed with real world stories and examples. It's an excellent use of your limited resources!

I'm so glad that economics is not in the title of this book. Reason? I've been able to recommend this great book on the best ways to make decisions through understanding some basic economic principles- made easy by anecdotal stories of good and bad decisions. If economics was in the title there would be no way some of my non-quantitative (and often emotionally driven) friends would have the least desire to peruse these pages. On the other hand- literally every one who I've shared the clear thinking outlined in this book has jumped at the opportunity to first borrow and then buy the book. Through this book I've been able to identify both personal flaws in decision making process as well as chronic issues of poor decisions made at the work place. I've been able to influence Senior Managers to reconsider the ways that have become endemic and dysfunctional at our workplace and a new light of common sense evaluation. Thanks Dr. Henderson!