What's Your Decision Making Process?

"Successful people make decisions quickly and change them slowly." — Napoleon Hill

We live in a world of constant choices—big and small, strategic and simple, rational and emotional. Whether you’re a business leader guiding a team, a founder navigating market shifts, or an executive optimizing performance, your ability to make quality decisions quickly and confidently is a major driver of your effectiveness, your influence, and your results.

But here’s the truth: Most people don’t have a process. They rely on gut feelings, reactive emotions, or delayed overthinking.

And as a result—they lose opportunities, confuse their teams, and stall momentum.

This article is your invitation to rethink how you make decisions. Let’s explore how decision-making works from a behavioral science lens, integrate the insights of thought leaders like Napoleon Hill, Daniel Kahneman, Dr. Robert Cialdini, and Dr. Gregory Neidert, and equip you with a practical process that sharpens your thinking and speeds up your success.

Decision-Making Is a Competency—Not a Personality Trait

In leadership development, “Decision Quality” and “Timely Decision Making” are considered core competencies. Leaders with these strengths are able to:

• Assess options logically

• Avoid analysis paralysis

• Anticipate unintended consequences

• Commit with confidence, even amid uncertainty

But how do they do it? It’s not about being smarter. It’s about having a framework.

Just like a muscle, decision-making can be trained and strengthened.

Reflection Question: Where in your life or business do you avoid decisions, delay them, or make them emotionally?

The Napoleon Hill Decision Principle

Napoleon Hill, in Think and Grow Rich, studied 25,000 people and observed:

“Analysis of several hundred people who had accumulated fortunes well beyond the million-dollar mark disclosed the fact that every one of them had the habit of reaching decisions promptly and of changing these decisions slowly if and when they were changed.”

Hill believed indecision was the twin of doubt—and both were fear-based. Fear clouds decision-making. Clarity drives it.

To overcome that, he recommended:

• Making decisions based on definiteness of purpose

• Cultivating faith in your ability

• Surrounding yourself with a trusted Mastermind group to sharpen thinking

Inductive vs. Deductive Reasoning in Decision Making

To improve your thinking, let’s break down two essential modes of reasoning:

Deductive Reasoning (Top-Down Logic)

• Starts with a general principle or hypothesis

• Applies it to a specific situation

• Example: “All great leaders communicate clearly. I want to be a great leader. Therefore, I must learn to communicate more clearly.”

When to use it: When you have reliable general rules or frameworks that apply to your specific decision.

Inductive Reasoning (Bottom-Up Logic)

• Starts with specific observations

• Draws a broader conclusion

• Example: “My team meetings go better when I lead with questions. Maybe a more Socratic leadership style is effective.”

When to use it: When you’re learning from patterns, feedback, or data.

The best decision-makers use both—like two lenses on the same issue.

Reflection Question: Do you tend to generalize too quickly (inductive error) or apply rigid logic to situations that need flexibility (deductive error)?

Two Systems of the Brain – Kahneman’s Fast vs. Slow Thinking

Nobel Prize-winning psychologist Daniel Kahneman introduced the idea of two systems that govern decision-making:

• System 1: Fast, automatic, emotional (gut reactions)

• System 2: Slow, deliberate, analytical (critical thinking)

Kahneman warns that while System 1 is efficient, it’s prone to biases like:

• Anchoring

• Availability bias

• Overconfidence

• Loss aversion

The key is to train System 2 to interrupt System 1 when the stakes are high.

Practical Tip:

Before a major decision, ask:

• What assumptions am I making?

• What evidence supports this?

• What would I advise someone else to do in this situation?

This short-circuits bias and activates deeper thinking.

How Influence Shapes Decision-Making (Cialdini + Neidert)

Dr. Robert Cialdini and Dr. Gregory Neidert have spent decades studying how people make decisions influenceably. According to their work, decision-making is often guided by heuristics—mental shortcuts.

They identified key Principles of Influence that predict human behavior:

1. Reciprocity

People feel compelled to return favors. → Use this to lead with value before asking for a decision.

2. Scarcity

People assign more value to things that are rare. → Frame the cost of inaction and highlight what may be lost.

3. Authority

People defer to credible experts. → Back decisions with data, expertise, or social proof.

4. Consistency

People want to act in alignment with their identity. → Get micro-commitments that match their long-term goals.

5. Liking

People say yes to those they trust and relate to. → Build rapport and common ground before making big asks.

6. Consensus (Social Proof)

People follow what others like them are doing. → Share relevant case studies or testimonials.

Dr. Neidert added that effective persuasion depends on targeting the right principle to the right audience at the right time—known as the “Optimized Conditions for Influence.”

In your decision-making process, ask:

• Am I being influenced by these principles unconsciously?

• Can I ethically use these principles to help others decide faster and better?

Create a Decision-Making Process That Works for You

Here’s a simple 5-step framework you can adopt today:

1. Clarify the Decision

What exactly needs to be decided? What is the timeline?

2. Define Success Criteria

What does a good outcome look like? What are your values and goals?

3. Engage Both Systems

Pause and evaluate. Are you reacting (System 1) or reflecting (System 2)?

4. Use Reasoning Tools

Run the decision through deductive and inductive filters. Ask:

• What’s the pattern?

• What’s the principle?

• What’s the precedent?

5. Decide and Own It

Use the influence principles ethically and act decisively. Track results and adjust only if needed—not every decision needs a reversal.

Reflection Questions:

1. What’s a decision you’ve been avoiding? Why?

2. Do you have a bias toward speed or perfectionism in decision-making?

3. How can you blend emotion and logic to improve your leadership decisions? 

Great decisions aren't just thoughts. They are actions that build results over time.

The most successful leaders don’t leave decisions to chance. They build a process. They train their mind. They sharpen their influence. They decide—and move.

Want to sharpen your decision-making and strategic thinking?

I work with growth-minded leaders to align their strategy, behavior, and performance through coaching, consulting, and customized workshops.

If you’re ready to elevate your leadership, team, and business—start by making a quality decision today.

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Because the next level of your growth starts with one decision.