CRITICAL DECISION MAKING: Ask The Right Questions

As Secretary of Defense, Robert McNamara had been involved in some of the  most critical decisions of the 20th century under Presidents John Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson.   Under Kennedy, decisions surrounding the Bay of Pigs and Cuban Missile Crises are examples of what can go wrong or right in the decision making process.  McNamara had been a US Air Force Captain during WWII  and later became President of Ford Motor Company.  Upon returning to Harvard years later for a speech on critical decision-making,  he noted that the process of using case methods to teach students about business and decision making was highly valuable.    However, he noted one problem.  Students are presented with problems and framework to evaluate and solve.  In the real world, problems need to be discovered and are often not obvious until their effects occur.  To discover problems means asking the right questions to seek out problems early and before they become difficult to resolve.   The concept of leaders identifying problems becomes critical.    "The most common source of mistakes in management decisions is the emphasis on finding the right answer rather than the right question"  Peter Drucker