Entrepreneurs use a lot of judgement in the decision making process. But where does this judgement come from? It is definitely some form of process in decision-making, but not a very structured process.
Although it looks like a fuzzy process, there is a lot of thought put in when it comes to making a judgement, it is definitely not something plucked out of thin air. Like they say, ‘There is a Method to the Madness’.
The reason it looks fuzzy is because a lot of gut feel is applied, and also because the vital thinking process was done mainly using the heart not, not the head.
As one gains more experience, they are able to evaluate the outcome of certain decisions better and are able to see the results of certain approaches to solving a problem. With past experience (good or bad) lessons get learnt which help refine the decision making process. These lessons will help you start to think more with your heart than your head, as you will associate the good and bad emotions in your experiences with future decisions.
In some cases, rules of thumb are developed and used to help in the decision-making process. Entrepreneurs and businessmen typically love to use rules of thumb to help them make certain decisions. Like we said earlier, there is a ‘method to the madness’, which can be really hard to see from the outside or to even document. These leaders have a hard time communicating their gut feel because the lessons from past experiences have been internalized, in turn developing fuzzy logic that helps them to make decisions better.
This is the reason why entrepreneurship seems to be something a person is born with and not learnt – is because entrepreneurship requires a lot of judgement in decision-making, and hence requires people to think with their hearts, which is not something easily done or understood.
But this fuzzy logic that is developed in the entrepreneur is grown after a series of lessons learnt, and is based on the entrepreneur’s experiences, which shows that it actually can be learnt.
We will look at ways to help understand and develop this fuzzy logic, so that we can use our gut feel better in the decision making process.