October 28, 2025
- Foster healthy dissent and debate to enhance decision-making quality.
- Create a culture of candor and trust that encourages open dialogue.
- Manage conflict effectively to drive better team collaboration and outcomes.
- Overcome decision-making roadblocks, including analysis paralysis and common cognitive traps.
Designing an Effective Decision-Making Process
- Key elements of a structured decision-making approach
- Balancing speed, accuracy, and collaboration in leadership decisions
Leadership Lessons from the 1996 Mount Everest Tragedy
- Leadership style and its impact on decision-making under pressure
- Common decision-making pitfalls in high-stakes environments
- The importance of fostering a culture where dissenting views are valued
Understanding Cognitive Biases in Decision-Making
- Sunk Cost Trap – When past investments distort future choices
- Confirmation Bias – Seeking information that aligns with preexisting beliefs
- Recency Effect – Overweighting recent events in decision-making
- Overconfidence Bias – Underestimating risks and overestimating capabilities
Creating Psychological Safety in Decision-Making
- Building a culture of openness to encourage diverse perspectives
- Using prototyping, experimentation, and testing to reduce uncertainty
The "Deciding How to Decide" Methodology
- A strategic approach to structuring decision-making based on context and complexity
- Tools and frameworks for selecting the best decision-making model for a given challenge
Leaders often hear "yes" far too often and rarely encounter bad news until it’s too late. This creates a significant challenge—not just for leaders, but for their teams and the entire organization. However, this problem is far from inevitable. With the right approach, leaders can encourage constructive dissent and thoughtful debate to sharpen their decision-making processes.
This program teaches you how to foster open dialogue and robust discussion while also building consensus. After all, conflict alone doesn't lead to better decisions—leaders must balance diverse perspectives with alignment around a shared goal.
Through captivating historical case studies, including the Bay of Pigs, the Cuban Missile Crisis, and the Mount Everest tragedy, this program delves into critical insights. You’ll uncover the five myths of decision-making, learn how to promote debate that unifies rather than divides, and explore the concept of "diversity in counsel, unity in command." Additionally, the program will address overcoming indecision, avoiding "analysis paralysis," and navigating other common decision-making pitfalls.
Whether you’re a leader or a member of a project team, this program equips you to tap into the collective wisdom of your team, make more informed decisions, and achieve better outcomes.
Dr. Michael Roberto is the Trustee Professor of Management at Bryant University in Smithfield, RI. He joined the tenured faculty at Bryant after serving for six years on the faculty at Harvard Business School. He has also been a Visiting Associate Professor of Management at New York University's Stern School of Business.
His research focuses on decision-making, teamwork, and leadership. He has published three books, the latest of which is titled Unlocking Creativity (Wiley, 2019), Why Great Leaders Don't Take Yes For An Answer (2nd edition published in 2013), and Know What You Don't Know (published in 2009). He also has developed three Great Courses lecture series, the best-selling Everest Leadership and Team Simulation, and the award-winning Columbia's Final Mission multi-media case study about the 2003 space shuttle accident.
Dr. Roberto has taught in leadership development programs and consulted at several firms, including Mars, Deloitte, Google, Target, Apple, FedEx, Disney, Morgan Stanley, IBM, Wal-Mart, Amica, and Textron. He's also presented at numerous government organizations, including the FBI, NASA, Joint Special Operations Command, the Air War College, and West Point.
He received an A.B. with honors from Harvard College in 1991. He earned an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School in 1995, graduating as a George F. Baker Scholar. He also received his doctorate from Harvard Business School in 2000.