#decision-making #disagreement The first rule in decision-making is that one does not make a decision unless there is disagreement. The understanding that underlies the right decision grows out of the clash and conflict of divergent opinions and out of the serious consideration of competing alternatives. A decision is made well only if based on the clash of conflicting views, the dialogue between different points of view, the choice between different judgments. A judgement requires alternatives. A judgment in which one can only say "yes" or "no" is no judgment at all. Only if there are alternatives can one hope to get insight into what is truly at stake. Unless one has considered alternatives, one has a closed mind. A decision without an alternative is a desperate gambler’s throw, no matter how carefully thought through it might be. Effective decision-makers create & organizes dissension and disagreement, rather than consensus. [[The dissenter shall be assumed reasonable]] While most people start out with the certainty that what they see is the only way to see at all, the executive who wants to make the right decision forces himself to see opposition as his means to think through the alternatives. He uses conflict of opinion as his tool to make sure all major aspects of an important matter are looked at carefully. This protects him against being taken in by the plausible but false or incomplete. > “I propose we postpone further discussion of this matter until our next meeting to give ourselves time to develop disagreement and perhaps gain some understanding of what the decision is all about.”