Cambridge Business Association
Problem Solved!
Book

Problem Solved!

The Secrets of Decision Making and Problem Solving

David Goldsmith
CreateSpace, 2014
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7

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Recommendation

For the past 30 years, Reese’s Pieces have been hugely popular, thanks in part to their starring role in the classic movie E.T. Originally, director Steven Spielberg’s production firm, Amblin Entertainment, approached the Mars company and asked if it could feature Mars’s M&M’s candy in the film. Mars said no. Amblin turned to the Hershey Company, and its Reese’s Pieces gained priceless exposure. Unfortunate business decisions such as Mars’s decision to opt out of a Spielberg movie are more the rule than the exception. Experienced executive David Goldsmith hopes to change that. He writes with zest and experience, despite some proofreading errors. To help businesspeople make better decisions, Goldsmith introduces and synthesizes tactics from other experts and adds an accessibly light analysis. getAbstract suggests his basic overview as a concise jumping-off point for decision makers.

Summary

A Bad Decision That Cost $179,999,250,000

In 1999, during the dot-com frenzy, the Excite company led the nascent search-engine category, and Google was just another rival. Sergey Brin and Larry Page, Google’s founders, offered to sell their company to Excite for $1 million. Excite turned them down. Brin and Page reduced their price by $250,000, but Excite still didn’t bite. Today Google is worth approximately $180 billion. The future is unpredictable, but, nonetheless, that wasn’t a good decision-making day at Excite.

Intelligent decision making is an essential business skill. Despite their importance, prudent decision-making skills – and their vital component, problem-solving ability – remain in short supply. Instead of using strategic, critical thinking coupled with an objective, analytical weighing of alternatives, many businesspeople rely on their visceral, knee-jerk reactions when faced with a crucial decision. This results in recurring unsolved problems that force companies into a futile withering away of resources and declining profits. This is a sign of the times: In 1955, the typical Fortune 500 company stayed in business for about 75 years. Today...

About the Author

David Goldsmith is the founder of The Goldsmith Group. His business articles appeared in leading business journals and magazines in Australia, Canada, Europe and the United States.

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