Leadership Personal DevelopmentSample

DECISION MAKING

How It Works

Good decisions require accurately processed information. Technology has made getting information easy. Computers crunch data and give it to us in digestible bits, but the human mind must still analyze that data and make the decisions. The writer of Proverbs knew that people must make good decisions, so he urges us to attain wisdom and mental discipline and to understand words of insight.

A leader must develop a disciplined and prudent character so that they will do what is right, just and fair. The rub comes when the leader doesn’t know what is right, just and fair—or when any conceivable decision appears unjust, wrong and unfair. That’s why the unsophisticated need prudence. The young need knowledge and discretion. In fact, everyone needs to foster learning and seek guidance on a daily basis.

Proverbs isn’t a decision-making textbook, but this wisdom-packed book is God’s gift to help us to make the best decisions possible. Proverbs 1:1–6 informs us that the proverbs to follow will help the reader to develop the requisite mental sharpness to process complex information. Even though technology helps us to gather and manipulate information, a sharp mind must still apply solid logic to that information in order to make good decisions. The proverbs help us to accomplish this goal in a godly manner. They sharpen the mind and reveal God’s insight to ensure that our decisions may be in sync with his eternal perspective.

Read these verses again, this time including verse 7. Then study Proverbs as a foundation for exceptional decision making.