I've had this post saved for about a month. Let me explain. As part of becoming an actuary, one has to take a series of exams. There are a lot of hoops to jump through, but I have always said there are roughly 10 exams, which you take one at a time every six months. You teach yourself the material from textbooks and other exam prep sources. The last exam is an online course that focuses on the soft skill of decision making. How Great Decisions Get Made is one of the readings from that course. I chose to blog about it because a) it was not a terrible book and b) it allowed me an avenue to talk about becoming an actuary.
The book is exactly what the title says: a how-to on how to make a great decision, following 10 simple steps. The 10 steps are fairly straightforward and reasonable, yet rarely followed. Generally I hate books like this, but the author states upfront this is a book on "showing and not telling". He uses many examples to demonstrate his points.
The biggest takeaway for me was how to address a problem or issue. Many times, we ask what's wrong or how can we fix it? We focus on the problem and trying to solve it. Instead, the better way to look at a problem or issue is to ask what's possible and who cares? A very simple yet interesting way to look at problems.
My rating for How Great Decisions Get Made: 2 starts out of 5. Get it here!
P.S. So I didn't really explain why I waited to post this...well, this week I FOUND OUT I PASSED THE COURSE! I am now one final conference away from officially being a Fellow of the Society of Actuaries.