Questions and Answers with Michael E. McGrath

The following are questions and answers posed to Michael E. McGrath about decision-making.

1.Why do you believe decision-making skills are so important?

When you think about it, our decisions critically impact and shape our lives. In fact, making decisions is the most important thing we do. As life progresses, we cumulatively make decisions on education, career, relationships, etc. For the most part these decisions shape our lives. We also make thousands of other less important decisions that determine what we do every day. Simply stated, if we can make better decisions, we can improve our lives.

2. Do you believe that people can learn to make better decisions?

Absolutely! Everyone can learn to make better decisions. I've yet to meet someone who tells me that they always make the best decisions and that they won't benefit from improving the way they make decisions. We can all learn the skills for making better decisions and apply those skills to our lives in everyday situations and in our major life-changing decisions. Through its books and other educational programs, DecideBetter! helps people to make better decisions.

3. What role has better decision-making played in your own life?

Long ago I realized the importance of making better decisions in my life, so I started studying decision-making, learning from my own experiences as well as the experiences of others. Over time, I improved my skills at making better decisions. Making better decisions has transformed my life, and I believe that making better decisions has been the primary reason for my success.

4. When you were a business consultant you developed some new techniques for making better business decisions. Can you comment on those?

Yes, I frequently advised executives at the companies where I consulted on how to make better business decisions. In the late 1980s, I created a decision process for large corporations to improve the way they make decisions on research and new product development. Prior to that, this decision process was very inconsistent and ineffective in most companies, many of which wasted millions on bad decisions every year. I created an explicit process for making decisions phase-by-phase, according to clearly-defined criteria at each phase. It was enormously successful, saving companies hundreds of millions of dollars (billions collectively) and enabling them to get the right products to market much faster. I wrote two successful books on this decision process, and since then more than 1,000 large companies have adopted it as their standard process for making better decisions on new products.

5. As a CEO you developed a reputation as a strong decision-maker. Can you comment on that?

Many people have told me that I am a strong decision-maker. For example, when I stepped in as CEO to turn around i2 Technologies, I needed to make a lot of big decisions, some of them very quickly, in order to save the company. We made the right decisions, making the company profitable, eliminating the debt that was coming due, and igniting growth. I think decision-making has become one of my strong points in leadership.

6. Why did you decide to create DecideBetter!?

I realized that I could help others learn how to make better decisions, enabling them to have a better life. What a great way to help others! Maybe I could positively change the lives of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of people. Wouldn't that be great? So I created DecideBetter! to develop the books and other materials to help them.

7. Has making better decisions been addressed before this?

Not in a practical and interesting way. For the most part, books on the topic of decision-making, including my previous books, have been academic or business-focused and covered one particular process for making decisions. There really haven't been any books, training, or other materials focused on making better decisions in life that were practical and easy to read.

8. What makes you an expert on making better decisions?

Good question. First of all, I'm not sure that anyone makes perfect decisions, including me. I've made my share of bad decisions. However, I have studied decision-making skills for a long time, established a reputation for being a strong decision-maker, and advised businesses on making better decisions, so I have much to offer others at this point in my life. Over the last 25 years, I've created practical decision techniques for making better decisions in a wide range of situations, and after a while I began sharing these with others. Since we started DecideBetter!, we have done a lot of research on decisions and developed a wide range of practical techniques to benefit others.