Complex Decision-Making

• Current and aspiring managers
• Senior executives
• Department heads (marketing, strategy, operations)
• Consumers
• Business consultants
• Life coaches
• Analysts and systems thinkers
• Entrepreneurs
• Engineers
• Investors and wealth managers
• Research directors
• Recent college graduates looking for best practices in decision-making

• Complex Decision-Making Certificate from the Cornell Johnson Graduate School of Management
• 40 Professional Development Hours (4.0 CEUs)

Decision-making can be a challenge. Whether large or small, using a framework to guide your process can provide comfort and confidence.

In this certificate program, you will use the AREA Method to make both personal and professional decisions with conviction. You will focus first on your own strengths and challenges based on your Problem-Solver Profile. You will evaluate cognitive biases and apply remedies, then use this approach to strengthen your ability to work effectively with other decision-making stakeholders.

With your profile in hand, you’ll begin to identify, frame, and break down a problem using the AREA Method. You will leverage a perspective-taking system to control for and counteract bias, use inversion to begin solving a problem, and look at the problem from the perspective of your Absolute Targets. You will then explore strategies for research and interviewing for decision-making. You’ll start by putting your problem into context and identifying sources for interviewing. After you have conducted your interviews, you will complete several exercises to practice evaluating your research and making a decision.

As this program concludes, you will put the AREA Method to work to serve you as an operating system in the world by applying aspects of the method in a variety of situations. You’ll address myths to strengthen your decision-making and look for evidence of AREA at work in the world.

Note: This program includes a copy of Cheryl Strauss Einhorn's e-book, “Problem Solved” (New Jersey: Career Press, 2017). You will receive instructions about how to access the e-book when you join the course. If you prefer to purchase a hard copy of the book, we suggest you do so before the start of the course. The book is available for purchase online or at other retailers.

The courses in this certificate program are required to be completed in the order that they appear.