MIT Sloan Management Review

Leadership and Organizational Studies

The Elements of a Clear Decision

By Luda Kopeikina

January 1, 2006

Achieving a state of clarity is a necessary but not sufficient condition for making good decisions.

The success of an enterprise is the sum of decisions made in the course of doing business. It must follow, then, that a manager’s value lies in the quality of his or her decisions. Effective leaders make their decision-making look easy. As with superior athletes or gifted artists, they seem to be relying on instinct and intrinsic gifts, while all the while executing a learned response that is the result of endless practice and discipline. Good decisions hinge on mental clarity. Clarity comes from a state of mental concentration, of focusing thoughts and paying attention. Clarity is reached by training the mind to be precise and accurate in its definitions, assumptions and evaluations.

Having worked with hundreds of CEOs of various size companies in many industries, I have concluded that there is a state of mind — a clarity state — that the decision maker must reach in order for a good decision to come together. The clarity state is characterized by a balance of physical, mental and emotional systems. According to findings in both neuroscience and sports physiology, it is actually a measurable physical and emotional state of being relaxed, positive and focused. Neuroscientists confirm that reaching that state of coherence enables us to use more of our brain power than we normally do. Athletes and trainers have come to realize that reaching that... To read the complete article, login or sign-up using the form below.

From The Magazine

Fall 2009

Special Report: Sustainability

8 Reasons That Sustainability Will Change Management

Michael S. Hopkins

Transparency, accidental innovation, trust, collaboration — as sustainability affects how the world works, so will it affect how business works in the world.

Intelligence: Management

Debunking Management Myths

Martha E. Mangelsdorf

In this interview, Henry Mintzberg questions some of the conventional wisdom about managerial work.