4. To Make Better Choices, Look at All Your Options Together

by SHANKHA BASU and KRISHNA SAVANI

WE MAKE THOUSANDS of decisions every day. Some are fairly simple—we decide when to wake up, what to have for breakfast, what to wear to work, which email to reply to—whereas others are more complex, requiring us to weigh different options. For example, when buying a laptop, we compare different models to find the best one for our budget; when choosing a retirement plan, we compare options to find one with the highest returns for our risk appetite; and when hiring, we compare multiple applicants to identify the best candidate. When faced with such decisions, we can examine one option at a time or review all our options together. For example, when deciding which job candidates to interview, a hiring manager may evaluate one candidate’s résumé at a time, form an…

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Harvard Business Review Special Issues (Digital) - 1 Issue, Fall 2023

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