Mike Cannon-Brookes, co-founder and CEO of Atlassian on decision-making: “The basics of the decision tree are root, trunk, branch, and leaf. So you have four types of decisions and they vary on two axes in a generalized decision model. The two axes refer to the person making the decision and the information that is broadcast about the decision. To break it down, a leaf decision is a decision where you’re working for me, you make the decision, you don’t tell me, and I don’t need to know. People make thousands of leaf decisions every day. A branch decision is one that you make and then you tell me, “FYI I’m going to let that person go, I’m going to do this, or I’m going to do that.” Okay, great. I don’t need to weigh into that decision. A root decision is mine to make. As such, I will tell you what the answer is. The trunk sits in the middle of the prior three and is my decision to make. You need not tell me the outcome, however, you hopefully come to me with options like, “Hey, boss, we’re going to decide what to do here. I think A and B are the big choices. Maybe I’m leaning towards B, but it’s your call. You have to make this decision.””
The Economist on India and China: “In the ancient Chinese game of weiqi, better known in the West as Go, the objective is not to knock out your opponent. Taking turns to add one stone at a time to the board’s 361 spaces, what players firstly seek is to build the largest, strongest structures, and only secondly to weaken and stifle enemy ones. Better players shun contact, preferring to parry threats with counter-threats. Such unresolved challenges multiply, the advantage shifting to whoever poses the sharpest ones. Only when more stones than empty spaces fill the board can resolution of these tactical matters no longer be avoided. The contest between China and India has unfolded in similar fashion.”
Michael Porter: “A big part of the task in economic development, then, is educational because many citizens and even their leaders lack a framework for understanding the modern economy, seeing their role in it, or perceiving their stake in the behavior of other groups in society. Lack of understanding often allows special interests to block change that will widely benefit the nation’s prosperity.” [via CafeHayek]
