Super deciders : the science and practice of making decisions in dynamic and uncertain times

"Should we optimize our branch network or launch a digital attacker? Should we optimize the internal combustion engine or switch to electric engines? Should we optimize our organization or change it? These are all versions of the exploration-exploitation dilemma, an approach to decision-making that we naturally use in situations of uncertainty, that is, most of the time. There is no general rule or mathematical formula for making decisions exactly or perfectly. However, understanding what drives the choice between exploitation and exploration under uncertainty is of fundamental importance because it can help leaders take decisions in uncertain, dynamic and ambiguous situations in more ways. And it can help build more adaptive, more flexible organizations. Super Decisions seeks out these drivers in recent research in management and neuroscience and explains how understanding the neuroscientific foundations of decision making and adaptation can help leaders make their organizations perform better in today's fast-paced and dynamic environments. Super Decisions is a 1-2-3 guide to making great decisions. First, it discusses the dilemmas of adaptation, the exploration-exploitation dilemmas. Second and reviewing recent advances in neuroscience, it designs a method for better decision making in practice. Third, it explores venues for managing tensions in organizations arising from resolving exploration-exploitation dilemmas in practice. Tensions arise from pursuing several and often contradicting strategies contemporaneously. By reviewing approaches to manage those tensions, the book develops a framework for effectively managing corporate adaptation and change in practice, at individual, group, and organizational level. To make the concept of decision making under uncertainty real and practical, the book illustrates how its done through the story of a leader of an international travel operator called Inuk"--