Critical Doer Book Review: Decisive

A Critical Doer capitalizes on opportunities to be better

 

Chip and Dan Heath hit a home run with their book Decisive:  How to Make Better Choices in Life and Work.

 

Decisive Book Cover

 

There’s no shortage of authors that tell you how important it is to think critically.  A few attempt to give you a framework that will teach you how.  The Heath brothers succeed in this book with a decision making model that’s easy to understand and applicable in professional and personal situations.

It would be helpful at this point if you review a couple of my previous posts about how to ask questions and framing problems with the proper perspective.

Asking the Right Questions

And the Winner Is…Both of Us

Asking the right questions and looking at a broad array of solutions where everyone wins is the heart of the WRAP model that Chip and Dan Heath have developed to help you formulate and make smart decisions.  The WRAP model is as follows:

W:  widen your options

R:  reality check your options

A:  attain distance before deciding

P:  prepare to be wrong

In explaining the model, Chip and Dan Heath did not stray from their proven model of laying out a principle and following it with real life stories that illustrate those principles.  Some stories end in success, some end in failure, but they all tie back neatly to the central point they are trying to communicate.

The ending of the book is especially helpful.  The “clinic” session presents 3 real cases where the reader can apply the WRAP model and come up with solutions.  The scenarios are challenging and the authors don’t give you a right or wrong answer.  They are there to simply make you think.

Decisive is a great read for a critical doer.  Decisions are the seeds of action, and this book gives you an effective method of developing options and preparing yourself mentally to make the choice and deal with the results.  Read the book and apply the lessons to your professional and personal lives to achieve fulfillment.  It’s what a critical doer would…do!

 

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Updated: February 23, 2015 — 12:01 am