GLG has produced a new series of videos focused on decision making in the business world.
As part of the series, GLG, the world’s leading membership network for professional learning, has interviewed a number of business leaders to ask about what considerations go into making important decisions.
In this installment, GLG spoke with Jake Sullivan, a former advisor to former President Barack Obama, about critical decisions involved in the policy-making process in Washington.
Decision Making And Strategic Unpredictability
Sullivan played a critical role in the Obama administration’s controversial nuclear deal with Iran. He said no matter how confident he was in the work the administration had put into the deal, the moment when the president asked his opinion on whether or not they should accept the final terms was very difficult.
“Being able to make that decision to recommend to the president that we go ahead and do this deal required stepping back from the anxiety, the emotion, the nerve-wracking idea that maybe we were going to screw this thing up and actually systematically running a cost benefit analysis,” he said. By taking emotion out of the equation, he saw that the benefits of the deal far outweighed the cost.
“The hard thing about a decision like that is that somebody can always come along, and many did, and say you could have gotten a better deal. And you have to be prepared to stand there, look people in the eye and say, ‘I believe this is a good deal and it’s as good as we are going to be able to do right now.’”
Sullivan also addressed the unpredictability of the Trump administration and whether or not unpredictability can be an advantage when it comes to foreign policy. He said unpredictability can be an advantage, but it should be used rarely and strategically.
“Richard Nixon actually talked about…
Click here to continue reading
Want to learn more about how to profit off the stock market? Or maybe you just want to be able to look sophisticated in front of your coworkers when they ask you what you are reading on your Kindle, and you’d prefer to tell them “Oh, I’m just reading a book about stock market analysis,” rather than the usual “Oh, I’m just looking at pics of my ex-girlfriend on Facebook.” For these reasons and more, check out my book, Beating Wall Street with Common Sense. I don’t have a degree in finance; I have a degree in neuroscience. You don’t have to predict what stocks will do if you can predict what traders will do and be one step ahead of them. I made a 400% return in the stock market over five years using only basic principles of psychology and common sense. Beating Wall Street with Common Sense is now available on Amazon, and tradingcommonsense.com is always available on your local internet!
