The Decision Maker: Unlock the Potential of Everyone in Your Organization, One Decision at a Time

by Dennis W. Bakke

Who makes the important decisions in your organization? Strategy, product development, budgeting, compensation—such key decisions typically are made by company leaders. That’s what bosses are for, right? But maybe the boss isn’t the best person to make the call.

That’s the conclusion Dennis Bakke came to, and he used it to build AES into a Fortune 200 global power company with 27,000 people in 27 countries. He used it again to create Imagine Schools, the largest non-profit charter-school network in the U.S.

As a student at Harvard Business School, Bakke made hundreds of decisions using the case-study method. He realized two decision-making is the best way to develop people; and that shouldn't stop at business school. So Bakke spread decision-making throughout his organizations, fully engaging people at all levels. Today, Bakke has given thousands of people the freedom and responsibility to make decisions that matter.

In The Decision Maker , a leadership fable loosely based on Bakke's experience, the New York Times bestselling author shows us how giving decisions to the people closest to the action can transform any organization.

The idea is simple.

The results are powerful.

When leaders put real control into the hands of their people, they tap incalculable potential. The Decision Maker , destined to be a business classic, holds the key to unlocking the potential of every person in your organization.

Genres: Business, Management, Leadership, Nonfiction, Personal Development, Professional Development, Ebooks

4 pages, Audio CD

First published January 1, 2013

About the author

DENNIS W. BAKKE was raised in the foothills of Mount Baker in rural Washington State. He graduated from the University of Puget Sound, Harvard Business School, and the National War College.

Bakke co-founded The AES Corporation in 1981 and served as its president and CEO from 1994 to 2002. He helped build AES into a Fortune 200 global power company with 27,000 people in 27 countries. He is now president and CEO of Imagine Schools, a non-profit charter school network that operates schools in 12 states and the District of Columbia.

Prior to 1981, Bakke worked in the Federal Energy Administration and was deputy director of the Energy Productivity Center at Carnegie-Mellon University.

Bakke is the author of the New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestseller, Joy at Work: A Revolutionary Approach to Fun on the Job. The book is about two of Bakke’s passions: To create the most fun workplace in human history, and to teach the world the real purpose of organizations, including businesses. Bakke has discovered that it is when we are given the chance to use our ability to reason, to make decisions, and to take responsibility for our actions, we experience joy at work.

In The Decision Maker: Unlock the Potential of Everyone in Your Organization, One Decision at a Time, a leadership fable loosely based on Bakke’s experience, Bakke shows us how giving decisions to the people closest to the action can transform any organization.

He lives with his wife, Eileen Harvey Bakke, in Arlington, VA.

Reviews

[Anbukarasan · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful read

Well, narrated dramatically the evolution of the best principles for decision making.

We can say this is the way forward by the current organization's from the old schools which were talking about the + and - of centralisation and decentralisation.

[Dan · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Decision Maker

By Dennis Bakke

Utilized Accelerated Reading Technique as taught by Tai Lopez

Review
The book tells a fable/parable about a fictional business that implements the authors principle to place the decision-making power in the hands of the employees that are closest to those decisions. The principles are simple and ultimately I believe could have been conveyed without the fictional premise. I did find that the story doesn't do a good enough job of tackling how this may not be a very easy principle to implement, nor how de-centralizing decision making could make a company lose some of it's cohesion across departments. Overall, I liked the principle, but would recommend most flip to the end of the book for the executive summary.

[Quinton · Rating 5 out of 5]

An interesting idea on how to make decisions within an organization. I'd be willing to experiment with this and would love to hear from other organizations that are doing this. Will be doing some more research into it.

[Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought this book offered great insights on how to put the best practices in place.

[Da_sh · Rating 4 out of 5]

хорошая идея, правильная
(были бы люди еще такие правильные, давно бы освоили космос и жили бы в социализме)

[Shu · Rating 5 out of 5]

In a company, we always claim that we are working as a team. However, what is that really mean? Is that mean blindly following order from the superiors or wait for the orders from the superiors? Although the superiors have greater authority compare to the others, do they always make the right decision or do they always make the decision on time? Dennis illustrates a story that the expert should be the one that take charge of the problem, regardless of the title of the position. Human are not robot. We have our thoughts and want to do something that interested us instead blindly working like a robot.

[Aiva · Rating 4 out of 5]

Очень ламповая книга. Прямо не верится, что эти вещи могут работать, но читать приятно. Похоже на Deadline от ДеМарко.

Основные принципы управления:
- Каждый уникален
- Каждый способен творчески подходить к работе
- Каждый способен учиться
- Каждый ошибается
- Каждый любит сложности (слово из книги, лучше заменить на "вызов" или другой более удачный перевод слова challange)
- Каждый хочет внести свой вклад
- Каждый несет ответственность за себя и свои действия
- Каждый способен принимать важные решения

Критерии определения человека, принимающего решения:
- Близость к проблеме
- Точка зрения и кругозор (способность посмотреть на проблему с разных сторон)
- Опыт (принятия подобных решений)
- Мудрость

Принципы сбор мнений для принятия решений:
- Опыт
- Должность (разные должности и места в иерархии - разные перспективы)
- Ответственность (человек, отвечающий за подготовку и принятие решения несет за него ответственность)
- Вовлеченность (привлеченные к принятию решения люди больше втягиваются в работу)

[Jonathan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Had low expectations but was pleasantly surprised by this book. It reminds me of Ray Dalio's management system of "radical transparency" which he describes in his series of books on Principles, but with more of an emphasis just on people rather than on describing specific processes.

However, what the author does not say is that he was forced to resign from his company, AES, back in 2002 after fallout in the Enron scandal following the Dot-Com bubble; the company survived but still has not recovered to its 2000 peak. It seems like an interesting case to study in more detail.

Overall the book offers a simple and optimistic thesis which may not be fully proven by the historical evidence, but I agree with the author on some of the basic ideas presented in this book.

[Harshdeep · Rating 5 out of 5]

Book-Level: Beginner

This book presents little chapters which nicely threads a running story of decision making. Shows all the advantages and challenges of decentralized decision making.

Reminds me Toyota Way, which represents the same ethos.

Few good points from this book.
- Leader decides on decision maker.
- Decision makers are responsible for making decision.
- Decision makers needs to take advice of other experts around to validate their decision.
- And, at the end, decision ownership is still with decision makers.

[Matt Thackston · Rating 2 out of 5]

A lot of the advice about distributing decisions in an organization is really great, but the writing isn't. This reads like a trashy romance novel without the romance. The plot is simplistic, incredibly predictable and it avoids most of the likely problems you'd face in an organization while trying to adopt this philosophy. It's also written an roughly a 6th grade level. I think a non-fiction approach would have served the material better.

[Talha Rahman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Simple book. Could have been shorter.

I liked the concept of allowing others to decide the issues that relate to their area of expertise and to allow involved decision making. It's a difficult thing to do in real life. It got me thinking as to how I could apply this outside of business setting narrated in the book. For instance, could it be applied in our personal lives ? It's a good starting point. A fresh perspective for anyone who has to take a lot of decisions.

[Michael T Higgins · Rating 4 out of 5]

Easy read, great practical advice

The author walks you through a fictional account of the process of applying the decision maker principles in a way that is accessible. I can see myself applying these principles at work and know there will the challenges with doing so. But I feel equipped to deal with them given the way these problems were dealt with in this story.

[Ron · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fairly good narrative, and the ideas they try to expose are good, in line with modern day Software Engineering (my line of work), however the writing format is just not for me, filled with padding like "he said", "she said" etc

Perhaps a nice formatted blog post would be a better way to consume this content. Otherwise it's just a story telling

[Tim Duff · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book about turning executive type decisions to the people who work in the company and are the closest to the decisions that need to be made. A rebuke of top-down management and giving workers autonomy through advice to make decisions and be held accountable for them producing a more engaged and happier workforce.

[VoN Misarus · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good fictional story about a company which adopts a "decision maker" process. It's hard to see any company implement this, would be a revolution. I doubt any senior employee, a person who is far from execution give up his control, yet this would be so beneficial. If I ever start a company, ill implement it with the culture.

[Aliaksei · Rating 4 out of 5]

Легко читается. Содержит несколько хороших идей по построению культуры, где люди учатся принимать решения сами.
Одна из главных в том, что нельзя изменить только одну вещь начиная трансформацию компании.

[BS RAO · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book about decision making process

you first believe people are creative, they can take best decisions. Then only the process works. It releases a great potential in human beings.

[Tomáš Zahradník · Rating 5 out of 5]

Naprosto famózní příběh, který mě překvapil a dal nový/nekonvenční pohled na “řízení” lidí. Vůbec o žádné řízení nejde. Jde jen o předání rozhodnutí a zodpovědnosti. Doporučuji — čte se sama a máte ji za pár hodin nachytřenou v hlavě.

[Mohammed Ayub · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very well connected

Very well connected with simple formulas which is definable going to help anyone who wish to go with decision as well advisory process.
Let's make it real with live scenarios

[Eric · Rating 4 out of 5]

A solid book about unblocking your teammates so they can focus their energy on making the decisions they have expertise in. Wrapped in a simple story that made it easy to read, albeit the story may be too simple at times and feel forced.

[Steven Goodwin · Rating 5 out of 5]

A simple, but superior book that offers a fabled demonstration of what being a Theory Y leader looks like. If only more managers read this and put these principles into practice, workplaces would be more productive and more humane.

[Prabhat · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent story of decision making concept

Very well explained by live example,Great organization have this concept of giving freedom for making decisions. Empowerment comes with responsibility.

[Ankit · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Delegate decision making to the most qualified lowest layer possible, improve the decision with wisdom of the crowds."

The book tells an enjoyable tale of a business while delivering the above message. Fun quick read

[Gurpreet · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good read

Offers a different perspective more about what be done to improve the existing state ags ideology of the organization. Worth reading

[Bill L Stanley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ownership


QLeadership has responsibility to coworkers, and affected areas, provide support that allows the unique talents to contribute to the organization success/process.

[Michael Arnold · Rating 5 out of 5]

GRT ideas on how to run a company! Good audiobook, it's a story like a Ken Blanchard style book.

[Denis Vasilev · Rating 4 out of 5]

Не люблю бизнес басни, хотя идеи бирюзовой организации и привлекательны.

[John Lewis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great leadership book

Excellent depiction of how team work and decision is super important amazing and timeless in every sense of that word

[Brian Fuller]

I read it for work. It's leadership theory written in the form of a parable. There's that. I guess. Would be great if companies actually operated their way.

[Alli Tripp · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good example and reasoning for why people other than managers should have involvement in the decision process, how it's effective and why it works better