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Making the Decision

In the latest installment of the Smart Decision-Making series, Wayne Lynn looks at how a problem has been framed, how options have been identified, and those options evaluated. Now, the information you are using needs to be structured for maximum clarity about the strengths and weaknesses of options.

Wednesday, May 14, 2025

You have reached the stage in the process where the problem has been framed, options have been identified, and those options have been evaluated. The next step is a smaller process within itself. The information you are using needs to be structured for maximum clarity about the strengths and weaknesses of options. Imagine yourself with the facts spread in front of you as you start to deliberate. Read on to learn what happens next.

Need to know: There is a general flow involved in reaching and settling on a choice. It includes the following which is built to pick up where the last article, “Evaluating Potential Solutions” ends. It goes like this:

Why it matters: Not having clarity on what your decision must accomplish sets you up for sub-optimization, maybe even failure. Reaching the point where the decision is ready to be made, are we still waffling about the best choice? Do the facts and objective criteria point to one decision? Do we still favor a choice that does not meet our criteria quite as well?


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About Wayne Lynn

Wayne Lynn is an advocate of the adage that "you can't manage what you can't measure".  Combining his considerable strengths in leadership, economics, and strategy with broad experience in both public and private companies, he brings focus and discipline to the task of creating and sustaining success in today's chaotic environment.

Wayne has managed businesses ranging in size from $5 million to $500million in annual sales.  He has guided those organizations through a number of diverse market sectors including magazines, catalogs, inserts, direct mail, and general commercial printing.

A student as well as a practitioner of the fine art of business, Wayne's latest focus is on helping business leaders make their companies more viable economically, more relevant in the market place, more adaptive to constant change, and more durable in the long haul.  It's about people, what they know, and how well they execute on what they know.

Wayne can be reached at 704-516-7787 or at [email protected].

Recent Articles from Wayne Lynn

Double-Digit Growth

Double-Digit Growth

First, we pushed the constraint keeping a company from growing out the front door and into the market, the domain of our sales departments. This article will explore how lack of a true priority on customer creation may be the real issue. It might not be as much of a talent issue or lack of motivation as most of us think but, instead, a leadership issue where the true priorities that create growth are not managed. Read More

The Biggest Constraint of All

The Biggest Constraint of All

Outside of competent people, the biggest constraint on the long-term success of your business is the lifetime value of the commercial relationships contained in your customer base. In the article, Wayne Lynn explores how to drive growth when the only constraint you have left is found in the sales department. Read More

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Even if automation and AI transform your business into a much lower headcount situation, the employees you are left with will need a couple of key things: good leaders and the assurance their higher-level needs can be met working for your company. Read on to find out why. Read More