University of Minnesota - UMN Executive Leadership Insights
The Decision Maker
Book

The Decision Maker

Unlock the Potential of Everyone in Your Organization, One Decision at a Time

Dennis Bakke
Pear Press, 2013
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Entrepreneur Dennis Bakke co-founded the energy giant AES, where he prioritized corporate responsibility and a deep concern for workers. Then he co-founded Imagine Schools, a nonprofit charter school network dedicated to applying the best learning models to each student’s unique needs. Here, Bakke explains that all employees have the ability to make important work decisions, and he champions the idea that companies should empower their staff members. Through the device of a modern-day corporate fable, Bakke explicates a philosophy that celebrates the intrinsic worth of every individual. While this, like most business fables, requires some suspension of disbelief, getAbstract recommends it as an inspiring story of how to open up the decision-making process in your organization. Bakke explains why letting your employees decide is both smart business and the right thing to do.

Summary

The Organizational Decision-Making Process

To learn about an organization, watch how it makes decisions. At most companies, the senior executives make all the significant rulings, and that usually sends a message that the top managers do not trust their employees.

People learn best when making meaningful choices; that’s why the Harvard Business School pioneered the case-study approach to learning. MBA students at Harvard absorb the way commerce and management work by using this method, which hinges on making decisions. The school’s executives-in-training make sophisticated decisions about more than 500 different business cases during their time at Harvard. Top business education programs worldwide now use this tactic to help their students develop their decision-making capabilities.

Yet once they are on the job, most business leaders reserve the right to make all the decisions – or at least all those that count. They expect their team to do only as instructed, or, at the most, they may solicit staff input before they have their final say. Unsurprisingly, this discourages employees and doesn’t help them develop professionally or personally.

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About the Author

Dennis Bakke is co-founder of Imagine Schools and of AES, a global energy company.

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