Unless one has considered alternatives, one has a closed mind. This, above all, explains why effective decision-makers deliberately disregard the second major command of the textbooks on decision-making and create dissension and disagreement, rather than consensus. Decisions of the kind the executive has to make are not made well by acclamation. They are made well only if based on the clash of conflicting views, the dialogue between different points of view, the choice between different judgments. The first rule in decision-making is that one does not make a decision unless there is
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Create requisite variety if it doesn't already exist. Cf this with typical American aversion to direct confrontation. Cf also with Japanese method of gaining requisite variety without head-on direct conflict and disagreement. How do they do it? How to the Japanese get requisite variety given their general aversion to direct disagreement?
