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4 - Defining Your Decision

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 April 2020

Ralph L. Keeney
Affiliation:
Duke University, North Carolina
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Summary

Before acting to solve some recognized decision problem, it is important to think about which immediate decision you should face. Once you recognize a decision, you want to develop a clear and concise statement of this decision. You have an important choice—in fact, a decision itself–about the decision statement that you choose to describe the decision that you want to face. Your decision statement is the starting point for nudging your thinking about sets of appropriate values and alternatives to create the decision frame for your decision. Begin any decision statement with the word “decide,” typically followed by “which,” “what,” “when,” “whether,” “how,” or “if.” Decision statements are often narrow and end up addressing only part of the real decision. You want any mention of values in your decision statement to be broad. Before accepting any decision statement posed for you by someone else, you should carefully consider whether you want to address that decision.

Type
Chapter
Information
Give Yourself a Nudge
Helping Smart People Make Smarter Personal and Business Decisions
, pp. 36 - 48
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2020

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  • Defining Your Decision
  • Ralph L. Keeney, Duke University, North Carolina
  • Book: Give Yourself a Nudge
  • Online publication: 17 April 2020
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108776707.005
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  • Defining Your Decision
  • Ralph L. Keeney, Duke University, North Carolina
  • Book: Give Yourself a Nudge
  • Online publication: 17 April 2020
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108776707.005
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Defining Your Decision
  • Ralph L. Keeney, Duke University, North Carolina
  • Book: Give Yourself a Nudge
  • Online publication: 17 April 2020
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108776707.005
Available formats
×