The Art of Critical Decision Making

Very rewarding, fulfilling its promise

This work is clear, well-structured, well-paced, and understandable. It moves fluidly between practical pointers (sometimes checklist-like, with nice summaries) and examples that keep it moving nicely. I admire the work of a professor who has obviously invested plenty of time, thought and experience into making such a crafted and polished product. I have read other books in this area (most recently "Guide to Decision Making" by H. Drummond here at audible), and I do like to sample around, but this one for me is head and shoulders above anything I've seen. Plugging these suggestions in to current decisions (alone or with others) makes me feel more like I am flying with "instruments" versus guessing with gaping (unknown) blind spots. Yet, the approach is not "paint by numbers:" good human reckoning is still required, but augmented with the assistance of various guides, reminders and prompts along the way. I'm sure I will listen through this one again.

54 of 56 people found this review helpful

Great book for aspiring leaders

Where does The Art of Critical Decision Making rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Top 10 books.

Who was your favorite character and why?

The fireman leader.

What about Professor Michael A. Roberto’s performance did you like?

The clear and effective manner of articulation of complex concepts

What did you learn from The Art of Critical Decision Making that you would use in your daily life?

To be aware of my biases and manage them in my decision making at my profesional career.

21 of 24 people found this review helpful

I feel like have learned so much.

I feel so much smarter. I listen to this book on my commute. Worth the money spent.

4 of 4 people found this review helpful

Good course but broad brushes a lot

Is there anything you would change about this book?

The political and PR POV were glossed over, especially in the Shuttle disasters.

Richard Feynman's analysis stated that management inexplicably believed the probability of failure to be 1000 times less than their working engineers. Feynman concludes "For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for nature cannot be fooled"

The Shuttle disaster was more than poor decision making. It bordered on a cavalier incompetence by management but the course painted the management in a much better light.

Case studies have strengths and weaknesses because what is presented is only what supports the conclusion. The shuttle disaster are but one. Having read some of the analysis on these events, I think that the course really misses the mark here and Incredibly, partially blamed the engineer for not making a better case!

What did you like best about this story?

The last part of the course had good material. In the end it emphasized techniques to ferret out problems that can be solved earlier vs later.It provided techniques that will help foster discussion, debate and result in better decisions

What about Professor Michael A. Roberto’s performance did you like?

Very good performance although there was a tendency at times to use straw man arguments.

Was The Art of Critical Decision Making worth the listening time?

Very good course. Offered a lot of very good ideas and techniques to combat group think and other decision making pitfalls.

17 of 20 people found this review helpful

Worthwhile and true to the title

The content is based on years of research and presented through means of case studies. It is very well organized and easy to digest as an audio book. It was worth the listen and helpful for developing decision making skills.

8 of 9 people found this review helpful

CRITICAL DECISION-DECISION MAKING

In the Great Courses’ lecture series, Dr. Michael Roberto, characterizes leadership in “The Art of Critical Decision Making”. Roberto’s primary methodology is examination of case studies that range from the Cuban missile crises, to the Daimler/Chrysler merger, to the 9/11/01 Trade Center bombing. He offers perspective on how good decisions can be made when complexity exceeds average to superior individual human capability.

Roberto’s argument is that a structured participatory process is the most consistently productive form of critical decision-making. Roberto infers, as the world becomes more complex, individual comprehension and patterning of facts becomes less reliable as a form of critical decision-making. His argument relies on leadership structure that insists on communication transparency and qualified freedom. Roberto suggests leaders elicit ideas from engaged people, rather than only experts, in making critical decisions meant to identify problems, proffer solutions, and accomplish goals.

Leaders need to engage employees whose ideas will be listened to, used, and appreciated rather than abjectly dismissed. Executives, who are more concerned about position than organizational effectiveness, are not leaders. They are cowards.

3 of 3 people found this review helpful

Very good

What did you love best about The Art of Critical Decision Making?

The content was very good. In fact, I am now going through the book again to take notes.

What about Professor Michael A. Roberto’s performance did you like?

This book sticks to the content, rather than repetition, lame stories, or anecdotes.

Any additional comments?

I think dry books such as these need to be read at 3x speed. If you've never tried it before, give it 15 to 20 minutes... and see how you like it. I think you will adjust and come to the conclusion I have, that 3x is the only way to go when you are listening to subject matter that can be dry.

10 of 12 people found this review helpful

Great ideas, not the best audio

Any additional comments?

This book contains some great ideas. I am glad I listened to the text and definitely gained useful insights. However, the audio reading is not the best. This might be a book better read, if you have the time.

9 of 11 people found this review helpful

Pretty focused on the business world but good

I recently left the LDS (Mormon) church and this really helped me to get my brain working properly again. The critical thinking skills taught in this lecture could have saved me 10 years and tens of thousands of dollars.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

Really useful food for thought

There is much to say here but I'll limit myself to a brief review. First off, the discussion on cognitive bias alone was worth the price of admission in my opinion. Much more to this series than that though. I intend to listen again. Very interesting from a professional perspective but also I believe these concepts apply to the decisions we make in our personal lives as well.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful