People often view the value of disaster analysis done in hindsight with some scepticism. While it may be clear ­after the collapse of a bank that the leadership made terrible decisions, how does this post mortem really help those running companies, organisations, teams or divisions avoid making their own bad decisions in the future? Jo Whitehead, co-author of Think Again; Why Good Leaders Make Bad Decisions and How to Keep It From Happening to You, and Director at the Strategic Management Centre at Ashridge Business School, believes understanding and dissecting these examples of bad decision-making really can make a difference, for all of us.

CWN members and Wharton alumni heard from Whitehead on his research on April 16 at the McGraw-Hill offices. During his presentation he argued that flawed decision-making originates from four sources: misleading prejudgments; inappropriate self-interest; misleading experiences and inappropriate attachments, and he pointed to specific corporate and leadership cases where these forces were at play. Think Again’s contribution to the field of management is then to outline a systematic process of red-flagging and safeguards that can be put in place to counter these four sources. This is not a case for more bureaucracy, Whitehead explained, but rather targeted interventions for very specific decision processes.

Much time during the evening was reserved for discussion and debate and attendees from both groups contributed personal case studies and challenging questions. CWN plans to continue working with McGraw-Hill to connect our members and its authors.

Ariana Bradford