Summary: How Great Decisions Get Made - Don Maruska

This work offers a summary of the book “HOW GREAT DECISIONS GET MADE: 10 Easy
Steps for Reaching Agreement on Even the Toughest Issues” by Don Maruska.
Dan Maruska suggests that often, businesses decisions are surrounded by fear:
employees are scared to express an opinion and they feel threatened by change
foisted on them. Maruska proposes a different way for businesses to approach
decision-making, one that fosters enthusiasm, hope and cohesion. He gives ten
steps for achieving this, ones which have been tested in Fortune 500 and high-
growth companies over more than a decade of real world experience. Maruska
also provides strategies for overcoming common obstacles you might encounter
on the way. “If you’ve been bogged down in divisive and unproductive debates,
just imagine what it would be like if your team member’s philosophy was ‘We
can do this together’”.
Everyone in the company should be a stakeholder, and as such should be given
accurate information about the company and considered a decision-maker. All
employees should be aware of the end-goal in any big decision, and the end-
goal should be something everyone should have a stake in. Executives should
never start a workforce meeting having decided the outcome. Maruska explains
how to overcome obstacles such as a blame-culture and circular debates. How
Great Decisions Get Made offers a way for businesses to develop their most
valuable resource, their employees.