Mitten Shaped Flights

Emotions with decision-making Emotions play a significant role in decision-making and it wasn’t until recently that I fully understand how this worked. Emotions make us human, as they provide us stimuli for our existence. They also make us confident when making decisions, or in some cases, overconfident. For instance, take for example the situation I found myself in recently with a critical decision to drive 1100 miles around Lake Michigan to attend my cousin’s high school graduation party for one hour. Without emotion, I would have viewed this very black and white in that traveling such a long distance for such a short period of time would be a poor choice. But when the emotion of seeing people from my family that I haven’t seen in a very long time; the decision became easier for me. In an emotional-laden situation, a manager may make such a trade-off implicitly, rather than explicitly (Snowden & Boone, 2007, p. 20). For me, the trade-off of spending 20 hours in my car in a 50...

How the Cynefin Framework benefits my decision-making As I continue to learn about the Cynefin Framework, I see its application across many decisions I’ve made. As Snowden (2010) describes it, we should manage our business lives within the complex and complicated domains, rather than the simple and chaotic. This is due to the boundary between the simple and chaotic domains, which is easy to fall into because of previous success and complacency. Understanding this, as well as the fact that the simple domain is relatively predictable and chaotic domains require people to think differently allows me to feel and react to possibly slipping into the wrong domain. Two examples The two examples that I can use to depict decisions I’ve made that are in the complex and complicated domains are: 1)     Complex – I worked as a Robotics Maintenance Manager at a brand-new Amazon Fulfillment Center (FC) and had to train 30 technicians on numerous areas of the operation. There were ma...

Decision-Making In Resolution When the Wayne County Airport Authority (WCAA) was riding high and enjoying record breaking passenger traffic in 2019, they decided to make significant improvements to the newest terminal at Detroit Metro Airport (DTW), the North Terminal. The North Terminal opened in 2008 and had not undergone any extensive improvements since then. The leadership of the WCAA decided that certain enhancements should be made to continue our high level of customer service to our passengers. The WCAA decided to make changes to the facade of the terminal as well as to install new common use kiosks for passengers to use when checking their baggage. In all, the improvements to the terminal would have cost approximately $30,000,000. The budget at DTW is set up in a residual format, which means that the airlines pay for our operating budget each year. In order to make the enhancements to the North Terminal, the WCAA needed to obtain the approval of the airlines at the airport....

When have you really listened? Our lives are made up of moments that can sometimes feel like they’re flying by us. We gravitate towards our own self-interests, wants and needs so that we feel better about who we are and what we’re doing. Too frequently that means we don’t take the time to hear each other. We are waiting impatiently to speak or thinking about what we’re going to say (Levine, 2009, p. 131) . Instead of being laser-focused on what the other person is saying, we think about how we want to respond. A lot of times, we choose to interrupt the person because we either don’t want to forget what we want to say, or we want clarifying information. Listening to someone, really listening to someone takes effort, timing and patience. It is an important information gathering vehicle for all concerned (Levine, 2009, p. 121) . Conflict of the heart Recently, my wife’s uncle took his own life. It was a tremendous burden on the family and caused a lot of grief. Although this wasn...

My Belief System There are many things I believe in. These protected values are important to me so much so that I think about them every day and there isn’t anything that could make me trade-off my values for something else. People often draw a line in the sand to create values that are protected from trade-offs ( Hoch, Kunreuther, & Gunther, 2001, p. 251). As I get older, I spend time reflecting on my beliefs and I ask myself challenging questions, such as does it make sense to believe in this? Have my beliefs changed over time? What should I believe in? Values Three things that are protected values (PV) to me are my beliefs in Jesus Christ, the environment and my family bond. As is the case with Jesus Christ, I believe he died for me and you. I believe this because of the power he has had in shaping my life and the lives of those around me. I have seen the miracle of life as it was almost taken from me in 2006 when I was almost killed in an assault. Without his interventi...