Decision Focus, Action Orientation

2 Pages Posted: 26 Aug 2001

See all articles by Robert F. Bruner

Robert F. Bruner

University of Virginia - Darden School of Business

Date Written: August 17, 2001

Abstract

Turning analysis into effective action is a hallmark of the professional. Preparation for professional life, therefore, should exercise students' skills in drawing out action insights from analysis. Analytic work is, by its nature, descriptive. The role of the teacher is to take it farther, to motivate students to extract the actionable insights. The verb, "educate," derives from a Greek verb meaning, "to draw out." It might be said that a complete education in Finance draws out the action insights from analysis.

What makes this hard is that the teacher cannot do this for the students; they must do it themselves. Making decisions and developing action implications cannot be served up the way a teacher might derive a formula. Students must discover it themselves. To compound matters, one cannot trust that students will do this unprompted. While most students have an appetite for Finance tools and concepts, they show an aversion for decisions and action. Making meaning of one's work is hard, and feels awkward to the novice.

One builds skills of decision and action taking through trial-and-error exercise. As the former CEO of Citicorp, Walter Wriston, once wrote, "Good judgment comes from experience. Experience comes from bad judgment." To produce new professionals in business and finance, we need to exercise their skills in the classroom. This column offers suggestions for how to proceed.

Suggested Citation

Bruner, Robert F., Decision Focus, Action Orientation (August 17, 2001). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=200852

Robert F. Bruner (Contact Author)

University of Virginia - Darden School of Business ( email )

P.O. Box 6550
Charlottesville, VA 22906-6550
United States

HOME PAGE: http://faculty.darden.edu/brunerb/

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