Foundation Matters

Making effective, rational, & ethical decisions ties strongly with one's established foundation and values. This concept ties strongly to my StrengthsQuest section and my personal philosophy attachment at the bottom of that section. 

Values & Ethical Rules

• I want to be a caring leader. To model the same behavior I ask of others. To go to the mats for my employee's when they're right. To get to know them as individuals and care about their struggles as they arise.
  • Ethical Rule: Be empathetic. Put yourself in another's shoes before making any decision.

• Set goals high. I think it's amazing what people can do, if pushed to their potentials. Too much however, may be harmful. Gauge each person, on an individual basis.
  • Ethical Rule: set obtainable, healthy, and motivating standards that will bring out each person's individual best.

• Reliable. I want people to remember that if I said I would do something, I did it. Reliability builds trust, a key ingredient in any relationship.
  • Ethical Rule: Reliability is one of the ingredients to trust, build it up by keeping your word. 

All in all, my strengths shape who I am. My values guide what I believe. My priorities are my actions. Finally, I expect to be treated from others how I treat them. God gave me my strengths and I hope I can use those to inspire others. My principles are Christian based: honesty, building trusting relationships, The Golden Rule, and striving to be all God intended us to be. That's not to say that I'm perfect, I'm not. I have a weakness aspect to every single one of my strengths. I think if you surround yourself with a good team, one that will be honest, collaborate, care, and positively push each other, anything is possible. 

You can't make consistent, effective, and ethical decisions if you don't know what you stand for. The much is the same for a company. If employees can't readily articulate what the mission, vision, and values are, the decision-making is likely to be very sporadic and ineffective. There is also a potential for ethical drift; since employees can't also refer back to a constant. See the video below from Fast Company, How to Write a Mission Statement That Doesn't Suck, for a how-to on how to inspire and ignite your workforce.  

Also get inspiration from the masters of business at the Soderquist Center, Leadership Insight: Mission-Vision. 

Tools for Effective Decision Making

Now that we've established a solid foundation, here are some tools to be effective in making decisions and analyzing options in business:

• Sunk, Opportunity, & Marginal Costs
• Marginal Benefits
• Demand, Quantity Demanded, Elastic, & Inelastic Concepts
• SWOT, Porter's 5 Forces, & Market Structure

To see a full explanation of each tool, view the attachment at the bottom, Final Paper-Current Econ-Little Debbies. 

These tools are very effective for analyzing the terrain of the business and market environment one may be in. Of course each market is subject to it's own conditions and rules. What would be the opportunity costs for selecting one course of action over the other? Would it be a ROI? Is my company elastic or inelastic and why does it matter? What are our weaknesses and which team members can help lift us up? Which of Porter's 5 Forces are we the weakest in? 

Here is an example of a SWOT I did for Little Debbies, in Gentry, AR:

The Art of War by Sun Tzu is also an excellent resource on how to make tactical, effective decisions; with a little critical thinking, it can be applied to any business situation.