About the Book
The best way to improve your quality of life is through the decisions you make. This book teaches several fundamental decision-making skills, provides numerous applications and examples, and ultimately nudges you toward smarter decisions. These nudges frame more desirable decisions for you to face by identifying the objectives for your decisions and generating superior alternatives to those initially considered. All of the nudges are based on psychology and behavioral economics research and are accessible to all readers. The new concept of a decision opportunity is introduced, which involves creating a decision that you desire to face. Solving a decision opportunity improves your life, whereas resolving a decision problem only restores the quality of your life to that before the decision problem occurred. We all can improve our decision-making and reap the better quality of life that results. This book shows you how.
Table of Contents:
1. Nudge yourself to make better decisions; 2. Your decisions and your life; 3. Making value-focused decisions; 4. Defining your decision; 5. Identifying your values; 6. Creating alternatives; 7. Identifying decision opportunities; 8. Obtaining authorization to select alternatives controlled by others; 9. Becoming a value-focused decision-maker; 10. Enhancing the quality of your life; 11. Useful perspectives on decision-making; Appendix. Evaluating alternatives and making a decision.
About the Author :
Ralph L. Keeney is Professor Emeritus at the Fuqua School of Business of Duke University, USA. Throughout his career, he has been a professor and consultant on making important decisions for policy makers, businesses, and individuals. He received his Ph.D. from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, is a member of the US National Academy of Engineering, and the author or co-author of several books, including Smart Choices: A Practical Guide to Making Better Decisions (with John S. Hammond and Howard Raiffa, 2015), Value-Focused Thinking: A Path to Creative Decision Making (1992), and Decisions with Multiple Objectives (with Howard Raiffa, Cambridge, 1993).
Review :
'Even though people make hundreds of choices each day, they rarely consider how to improve their decision-making skills. A good place to start is to read Ralph Keeney's new book, which is chock-full of wisdom, stories, and highly practical advice. By the time you finish it, you will have the author whispering in your ear the next time you face a big decision.' Richard H. Thaler, University of Chicago, co-author of Nudge, and winner of the 2017 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences
'Please 'give yourself a nudge' to read this book. If you are not yet sure how, you soon will be. Decision-making really is a learnable skill and Ralph Keeney is a master teacher with compelling examples, exercises, concepts, and steps to share.' Daniel Goroff, Vice President and Program Director, Alfred P. Sloan Foundation
'Read this book to build your wealth or bolster your health. Using practical advice wrapped in accessible language, distinguished decision-making expert Ralph Keeney explains how to identify and analyze critical decisions in your life, how to enrich your set of alternative choices, and how to value possible outcomes. It is precisely the primer you need to foster better choices in your professional or personal life.' Richard Zeckhauser, Frank P. Ramsey Professor of Political Economy, Harvard University
'Ralph Keeney introduces an innovative perspective: don't try to select the best option when facing a choice, but create better choices. Be your own choice architect! The book provides plenty of evidence and convincing arguments for this claim and is a must-read for anyone who wants to improve their decision-making skills.' Ortwin Renn, Scientific Director, Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies, Potsdam, Germany
'This book details innovative, yet practical, gems to nudge you toward making better choices that will undoubtedly enhance the quality of your life. Without grasping such life-enhancing opportunities, you will be at the mercy of life 'as it happens'.' James M. Tien, Distinguished Professor and Dean Emeritus of the College of Engineering, University of Miami, and Foreign Secretary, National Academy of Engineering
'In this exceptionally readable and interesting book, Ralph Keeney highlights ways that we all can use to improve our decision-making process by using our values and objectives to create and compare different alternatives. You will be rewarded personally by following the guidelines from this book.' Howard Kunreuther, Co-Director of the Wharton Risk Management and Decision Processes Center and James G. Dinan Professor Emeritus of Decision Sciences and Public Policy, University of Pennsylvania
'Ralph Keeney's new book is an inspiring nudge to us all; he coaches us to keep giving ourselves nudges to make better decisions. The book is packed with ideas for designing better alternatives based on what matters to you.' L. Robin Keller, University of California, Irvine
'When we can't have one of the world's leading decision analysts at our side when making the choices vital to our lives, the next best thing is to heed Ralph Keeney's advice about what really matters in defining the decision we face, specifying our objectives, and creating better alternatives to consider.' Paul Slovic, President of Decision Research and Professor of Psychology, University of Oregon
'Ralph Keeney has distilled a distinguished career's insights into a practical guide to decision-making that produces creative, rich results. This essential book encourages us to 'nudge' ourselves towards embracing decision opportunities and expanding the range of alternatives to consider.' Ken Peterson, Board Chair, BC Hydro
'Facing complicated decisions? Read this book to learn how to move from confusion to clarity and make smarter decisions.' Detlof von Winterfeldt, University of Southern California, and Director, Center for Risk and Economic Analysis of Terrorism Events
'No one has more hands-on experience than Ralph Keeney about what it takes for each of us to take charge of our lives. In a book full of instructive anecdotes, the author distills a career's worth of insight that will move you - finally - to action.' David E. Bell, Harvard University
'Learn to consider your goals and values before any important decision, and take advantage of decision opportunities. Ralph Keeney has done a great service in making this kind of advice available to the general public, which previously was available only from expensive decision consultants.' Vicki Bier, Decision Analyst, University of Wisconsin, Madison
'Making better decisions is the best way to improve your business and your life. Ralph Keeney, a globally recognized expert in decision analysis, provides a practical approach to decision-making by applying scholarly research to how we live and work.' Bill Klimack, Decision Analysis Manager
'Give Yourself a Nudge is filled with real-life examples and amazing analyses of social, personal, and organizational dynamics. These segments of the book show you the strategy in action and provide a good, realistic frame for future self-assessment.' Lucia Grosaru, Psychology Corner
