steve on Nostr: “Essence of Decision” by Graham Allison & Philip Zelikow ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ ...
“Essence of Decision” by Graham Allison & Philip Zelikow
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“How should citizens try to understand the actions of their government?” Considering the gravity of decision-making and the madness of modern politics, the scope of Allison’s (and in this edition, Zelikow’s) book is daunting to say the least. The authors present 3 useful models for framing decisions with the backdrop of the Cuban Missile Crisis. First, the Rational Actor Model, is easy to relate to and assumes states (like individuals) take actions that are in their best interests. The average person can see the flaws in this model though… there’s too many seemingly stupid decisions that we see our governments make. Model II offers a new way of viewing governmental departments as their own entities with momentum that doesn’t like to change… something executive leaders often find challenging when pursuing their political agendas. Lastly, Model III looks at those very political agendas and amalgamates all decision making as the resultant of each actor’s political interests. These 3 models not only help make sense of complex decision-making at the national level, but also prepare us to navigate organizational challenges at any level. It was a dense read, but my mind 🤯 exploring Models II & III… I had previously only viewed the world through the “rational actor” lens. This is a foundational text for anybody trying to understand how and why people think.
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“How should citizens try to understand the actions of their government?” Considering the gravity of decision-making and the madness of modern politics, the scope of Allison’s (and in this edition, Zelikow’s) book is daunting to say the least. The authors present 3 useful models for framing decisions with the backdrop of the Cuban Missile Crisis. First, the Rational Actor Model, is easy to relate to and assumes states (like individuals) take actions that are in their best interests. The average person can see the flaws in this model though… there’s too many seemingly stupid decisions that we see our governments make. Model II offers a new way of viewing governmental departments as their own entities with momentum that doesn’t like to change… something executive leaders often find challenging when pursuing their political agendas. Lastly, Model III looks at those very political agendas and amalgamates all decision making as the resultant of each actor’s political interests. These 3 models not only help make sense of complex decision-making at the national level, but also prepare us to navigate organizational challenges at any level. It was a dense read, but my mind 🤯 exploring Models II & III… I had previously only viewed the world through the “rational actor” lens. This is a foundational text for anybody trying to understand how and why people think.