Oprah's Deal

I have just watched an old episode of Oprah that where she plays Deal or No Deal for an audience member. I am a fan of Oprah, I think that it would be the best education in the world to get inside her head and learn a little about making decisions. This episode was especially interesting in light of a book that I have been reading, called Blnk. It is an amazing book I picked up at the Maximum Impact Seminars I attended earlier in the month.

It was interesting to watch Oprah under pressure having to make decisions that would effect others but not be able to do the research she likely does for every other decision she makes. However, if anyone has the confidence and history of good decisions Oprah clearly has that.

This is the way it all unfolded....

Immediately, Oprah chose the case with the highest amount, and she got a very low offer from the banker.... it was so low that she was OFFENDED!

As time went on, the decisions were easy, but it was clear that she was taking very seriously the reality that 10, 25, or 40 thousand dollars could change the trajectory of someone's life. It was amazing to see that someone who makes million-dollar deals, and who runs a BILLION -dollar media empire could still relate to the reality of her audience members.

At one point, Howie attempted to turn the audience against Oprah reminding them that she was playing with 'thier money', and began to poll the audience about what they might do with the money... it was clear that the offer of about 25K would make a major difference in the lives of so many. However, in true Oprah style, she reminded the audience that when they walked in they had nothing, now someone would be guaranteed $5000..... she reset their perspectives, and the audience was once agan on her side.

One of the points in the book, Blink, is that our brains are wired to make thousands of split-second decisions every moment on an unconcious level, and we can harness that ability to make concious decisions. You all know people who need the research and all the reports and information about all the options available before making any purchase-even a minor one. As well you all know people who make split second decisions about major purchases and are happy with that.

I am a split-second decision maker, and it freaks out my friend Nicolle who is very intentional about every decision she makes. We don't shop together very often, but we have discussed our different approaches to purchasing, and she has seen me in action.

One day in an excercise to get to know me better, she asked which pattern of dishes I liked best, we were standing in a store with about 50 patterns, as I began to assess, I honed in very quickly on one pattern and 20 minutes later, I was leaving the store with a full set of those dishes including matching pasta bowls, and mugs. All she saw was an impulse buy, but what Nicolle had no way of knowing, was that about a month before, the thought had crossed my mind that since I had just bought my first house, perhaps an upgrade in my dishes was apropos! These were beatuiful, fit all my intrinsic needs for dishes, and were a great price... so I took the plunge. What was reckless to Nicolle turned out to be a really great decision for me.

One of the points in the book as well is that we need to protect ourselves when making a decision from the distraction of too much information... have you ever been in the middle of buying a major item (maybe a car, or an appliance or a house, or a great pair of shoes) and you are pretty sure you have made your decision, then suddenly the person helping you introduces another option into the equation? Suddenly paralysis sets in, what was almost going to be a firm decision, now is muddied. In the book Blink, Malcolm Gladwell tells may stories of major decisions that went bad because of too much information and input. Doctors who made increasingly poor diagnoses as the amount of the information about the patient increased.

I watched as this happened to Oprah. The first couple of choices, she was very confident, then as the noise from the audience weighing in got louder, she became more uncertain, then when the details of what people were going to do with the money added to the information, she became less and less sure that she was making the right decision. At one point she turned to an audience member and asked him what she should do, when he responded "go for it" she did without hesitation or thought, and it was the wrong decision! Of course in true Oprah style, the audience member who won, walked away with the full $100,000 courtesy of Hershey's.

I am not advocating a lifestyle of uninformed impulse decisions, however, I am learning that the way I tend to make quality decisions is different than others, and that I need to protect the way God wired me, while still being open to learn better ways of doing things.

What is your decision-making style?