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Executive Decision

Welcome to Executive Decision, the podcast that reviews some of the most significant decisions in history: why they happened; how they happened, and what they tell us about the process of decision making.

About

Executive Decision is the podcast that reviews some of the most significant decisions in presidential history: why they happened; how they happened; and what they tell us about the process of decision making. 

I'm your host, Vic Bondi. I earned a doctorate in history from Boston University in 1993, and taught for several years. In 1995 I joined Microsoft and have spent the rest of my career in the software industry.

Many of the entrepreneurs I've met in the field have been concerned with leadership and decision-making. Microsoft spent a lot of time coaching management in those disciplines, and we sometimes had to review business cases from places like the Harvard Business School. As a historian I often thought about the limitations of that training--the cases were too narrow and focused. I wanted to look at the really big decisions, the ones that changed the world, and analyze the basis of those decisions for what they taught about decision-making generally. That was how Executive Decision was born.

Executive Decision will review some of the most consequential decisions in American history, from the standpoint of how these decisions were made, and what they tell us about decision making. My list of the top five would be:

1. The Cuban Missile Crisis, because had it been handled differently, the world would have undergone a devastating nuclear war.

2. The Emancipation Proclamation, because it restructured the basis of American citizenship, and was the most significant advance in the promise of the Declaration of Independence.

3. The Lend Lease Decision, because otherwise the United States might have stayed out of WWII, and the world would have fallen to fascism and militarism.

4. The Decision to Drop the Bomb, because it completely reset the meaning of warfare and changed forever the way nations engaged each other. 

5. The Embargo Act of 1807, because if Jefferson had gone to war instead, the early American republic would likely have been dismembered and the United States would have been very short-lived.

I'll also be looking at bad decisions as well as good ones. Upcoming podcasts will include the decision to intern the Japanese Americans, and the response to the stock market crash of 1929. 

What's on your short list of great decisions? Let me know!

contact@executivedecision.com