Judgment: The Art of Momentous Decision-Making

"What Mailander has delivered is a treatise for how to get it right when it matters most."
-William Schwab, Esq., US Army Aviation Colonel (ret.)

VETERAN STRATEGIST AND COUNSELOR TO CEOs REVEALS THE ART OF MASTERING JUDGMENT IN CRITICAL MOMENTS

The single most influential variable in determining who wins and who loses in moments of critical decision-making is judgment. The properties of judgment have an alchemical quality to them, able to transform adversity into opportunity for gifted leaders while proving elusive, career-ending, or even fatal to others.

In Judgment, Mailander takes you on a journey alongside a Cold War nuclear submarine commander hunting an enemy in the Sea of Japan, a Wall Street executive challenged to avert a global financial crisis, and the senior director of the White House Situation Room standing up the US national security apparatus in response to terrorist attacks in Paris. Through these gripping accounts, hidden codes and universal patterns of judgment well exercised are revealed.

Readers will discover invaluable insights to:

• Identifying trigger points within the decision-making process that create opportunities for steering the course in your favor
• Avoid the common errors leaders make, such as relying on a one-size-fits-all decision archetype or succumbing to common cognitive biases
• Seven indicators that illuminate the probable trajectory of a decision arc and gauge the strength or vulnerability of the decision-maker's position.

Judgment is a clear-eyed telling of the conditions that can change the course of a business, an economy, or a nation. It reveals the deeper codes and common patterns within critical decisions, and offers a collection of clues to look for and the methodologies that can be used by strategists, planners, and leaders — whether they be in the boardroom or on the battlefield — to improve their own leadership when it matters the most.

Chris Mailander counsels corporate and national government clients through the arduous decision path faced in the pursuit of extraordinary outcomes. His client roster has included MasterCard, Bank of Montreal, the Federal Home Loan Bank System, Unisys, Visa, KPMG Consulting, BearingPoint, the President of Nigeria, the Government of Iraq, and a host of mid-market leaders and Silicon Valley innovators seeking to transform industries. He has negotiated tenders and commercial transactions in more than forty countries across North America, Europe, Asia, the Middle East, and Africa, including in conflict and post-conflict economies. He was previously an adjunct professor at Georgetown University Law School and an adjunct fellow at the Center for Strategic & International Studies. He is author of The Craft (2019). He lives in Asheville, North Carolina.