Cultivating Good Decisions 

An organization’s culture is a key indicator of its ability to foster sound decision making. What is a good decision-making culture? It begins with a climate where employees feel safe offering contrarian viewpoints, highlighting potential risks, and identifying problems. How can a good decision-making culture go bad? And how can you turn a bad decision-making culture around?  

In the Arthur D. Little/Cutter Consortium bootcamp, Cultivating Good Decisions, Professor Michael Roberto will help you understand the underlying psychological, social, and emotional components that influence decision making. Through case study, videos, and lecture, you’ll discover how you—and your organization as a whole—can create a decision-making environment that enables better outcomes.

Developed by Cutter Consortium Fellow Prof. Michael Roberto, this virtual bootcamp delivers insight in short bursts, with rich discussion among participants, over two, 2-hour virtual sessions. The program draws on Prof Roberto’s groundbreaking work in leadership, risk management, and the creativity required for innovation. Interactive virtual instruction, case study discussion, and breakout sessions with your peers from across the globe and from many different industries combine to deliver a high impact experience in a condensed format. 

Day 1, June 15, 9am-11am EDT | see your local time
Boeing’s 737 MAX: Company Culture and Product Failure

During this first 2-hour session, Professor Roberto will dive into the case of how Boeing’s company culture created and amplified the 737 MAX failure. Through full-group and also peer breakout sessions, you’ll explore the factors that may cause a culture to shift over time and what leaders can do to promote psychological safety in their organization. Prof. Roberto will reveal how these lessons have been applied in several other industries—for example, the auto industry: what have auto makers done to enhance safety? has this worked? has it backfired?—and you’ll have the opportunity to brainstorm how these strategies can be applied in your own organization.

Day 2, June 16, 9am-11am EDT | see your local time
Improving Decision-Making

During the second 2-hour session of the bootcamp, Professor Roberto will expand the focus, leading a discussion on how you, and your organization, can improve decision making across your enterprise. Applying the lessons learned in Day 1, you’ll examine the 3 levels of decision making: individual, group, and organizational, to understand both what informs decision making and the common but avoidable pitfalls at each level. You’ll learn why it’s not uncommon for good decision-makers to experience decision-making paralysis, and you’ll discover how you can avoid this trap.

At the end of the two sessions, you and your colleagues will be armed with new insight and practical guidance that can help transform your organization’s decision making from a potential liability into a new core competency.