When Businesses Make Choices but Ignore the Consequence

Marketing Viewpoint by Ruth Winett

Bad Choices, Bad Consequences

Our personal and professional lives require us to make tough decisions every day, some consequential, such as selling a business or leaving a job, and some less consequential, such as selecting a vacation destination. All decisions and all choices, whether important or unimportant, require that you “weigh… the trade-offs,” says author Oliver Burkeman.* When “weighing the trade-offs,” you need to make an honest assessment of a situation and the consequences. “Nothing can stop you from doing anything at all, so long as you are willing to pay [the] costs,” Burkeman adds.

But, weighing trade-offs is hard. Some people think –incorrectly—that they have no options, according to Jean-Paul Sartre. Others “… exaggerate potential consequences, so as to spare [them]selves the burden of making a bold choice,” Burkeman explains. Saying “I have to do it” only means that I am unwilling to pay the price if I do not do it.

Organizations that Made Poor Choices

Prominent organizations sometimes make bad choices. Steward Health Care System expanded rapidly with outposts as far away as Malta. Short on funds, Steward sold real estate in a lease-back arrangement that bankrupted the organization. They had expanded rapidly, with little thought about the disastrous impact on patient care or the impact of taking on more debt and siphoning off profits to benefit upper management.

For decades, American manufacturers shifted manufacturing overseas to control costs. The upshot was a loss of manufacturing knowhow and a loss in manufacturing jobs. The most egregious example was in the manufacturing of semiconductors. The consequences of outsourcing vital products become evident during emergencies, such as the Pandemic, strikes, severe weather, and wars. Many US companies are now actively “reshoring.”

Weighing trade-offs and considering consequences can reduce the stress behind decision-making: It may make it easier to reject “unpleasant obligations.” It may also help to reduce anxiety if you ask, “What is the worst that will happen if We do/don’t do X?” Faced with a difficult choice, a colleague evaluates the options and then asks, “Will I feel worse if I select option A or if I select option B” — a gut check that works well for him. Finally, you should not make decisions that will leave someone else “seriously harmed.”

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Source: “Your Power to Choose Is Unlimited,” Oliver Burkeman, Wall Street Journal, October 5-6, 2024. Based on Burkeman’s Meditations for Mortals: Four Weeks to Embrace Your Limitations and Make Time for What Counts, October 8, 2024.

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