Judgment Calls: Twelve Stories of Big Decisions and the Teams That Got Them Right - Hardcover

Davenport, Thomas H.; Manville, Brook

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 142215811X ISBN 13: 9781422158111

Publisher: Harvard Business Review Press, 2012

Synopsis

Your guide to making better decisions

Despite the dizzying amount of data at our disposal today and an increasing reliance on analytics to make the majority of our decisions many of our most critical choices still come down to human judgment. This fact is fundamental to organizations whose leaders must often make crucial decisions: to do this they need the best available insights.

In Judgment Calls, authors Tom Davenport and Brook Manville share twelve stories of organizations that have successfully tapped their data assets, diverse perspectives, and deep knowledge to build an organizational decision-making capability a competence they say can make the difference between success and failure. This book introduces a model that taps the collective judgment of an organization so that the right decisions are made, and the entire organization profits.

Through the stories in Judgment Calls, the authors both of them seasoned management thinkers and advisers make the case for the wisdom of organizations and suggest ways to use it to best advantage. Each chapter tells a unique story of one dilemma and its ultimate resolution, bringing into high relief one key to the power of collective judgment. Individually, these stories inspire and instruct; together, they form a model for building an organizational capacity for broadly based, knowledge-intensive decision making.

You’ve read The Wisdom of Crowds and Competing on Analytics. Now read Judgment Calls. You, and your organization, will make better decisions.

About this title

About the Author:

Thomas H. Davenport is the President’s Distinguished Chair at Babson College, a research fellow at the MIT Center for Digital Business, and a Senior Advisor to Deloitte Analytics. He is the author or coauthor of fourteen books, including Competing on Analytics. Brook Manville is an independent consultant and the author of several publications on issues of strategy and organizational development. He previously served as Chief Learning Officer for Saba Software and the United Way of America, and before that was McKinsey & Company's first Director of Knowledge Management.

Review:

provides a convincing illustration laying out a usable model in the area of collaborative decision making.” CIO Digest

Judgment Calls makes a strong effort to raise decision making into less of an individual basis and more of a cultural practice within a team. It makes a solid follow up to analytic books such as Jim Sterne’s Social Media Metrics, Performance Marketing with Google Analytics, and of course, one of Davenport’s earlier books Analytics at Work.” Small Business Trends (smallbiztrends.com)

Judgment Calls is driven by the 12 stories, each of which ends with reflections on how the organization successfully made the decision. it does offer ideas for judgment calls at your own workplace.” The Globe & Mail

It is wonderful to have Judgment Calls: Twelve Stories of Big Decisions and the Teams That Got Them Right by Thomas H. Davenport and Brook Manville with twelve magnificently diverse parables of instances where good judgment was exercised and an organization got it right” Forbes.com

Selected as one of PW’s Top 10: Business Books.” Publisher’s Weekly

Those who have the opportunity to re-shape any organization of any size, the way it works and develops, and the way people lead and can be led more effectively will find great ideas and encouragement in this book. It is worth reading and re-reading.” HR Zone

ADVANCE PRAISE for Judgment Calls:

By integrating the lessons of twelve momentous decisions with a freshly imaginative perspective, Judgment Calls is a foundational contribution to the art and science of decision making.” Warren Bennis, Distinguished Professor of Business Administration, University of Southern California; author, Still Surprised: A Memoir of a Life in Leadership

How leaders and organizations approach decision-making is one of the most critical variables to succeeding. Judgment Calls is a must read for anyone that wants to ensure that their organization is using effective decision-making as strategic and competitive advantage. Allan C. Golston, President, U.S. Program, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation

Tom Davenport and Brook Manville have brilliantly written a collection of stories that provide both the proof and the guidance needed for organizations to make better decisions that depend on the skills, knowledge, and judgments of groups, rather than the oversold myth of individual heroics, which is ill suited for our ambiguous and fast-changing world.” Douglas K. Smith, coauthor, The Wisdom of Teams and The Discipline of Teams

Judgment Calls illustrates how nurturing an analytics culture improves organizational judgment and translates into better outcomes. Every leader can benefit from the iterative, deliberative decision processes’ highlighted in the case studies. Combining analytical insights and stories of collaboration among executives, engineers, marketers, partners, and customers, this book provides a winning formula for making more creative and innovative decisions.” Jim Davis, Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer, SAS; coauthor, Information Revolution: Using the Information Evolution Model to Grow Your Business

This is a book that stands up to common sense, while breaking through the age-old image of hero decision makers. In story after story, the authors show how great decisions in a wide range of industry situations have required and benefited from many perspectives and iterations over extended periods of time.” Jon R. Katzenbach, Senior Partner, Booz & Company

At last! A business book that's smart and great fun to read. Every leader especially aspiring leaders needs to read this book.” Alan M. Webber, cofounder, Fast Company; author, Rules of Thumb: 52 Truths for Winning at Business Without Losing Your Self

About this edition

• Publisher: Harvard Business Review Press
• Publication date: 2012
• ISBN 10: 142215811X
• ISBN 13: 9781422158111
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 288