Seattle Times columnist wrote a humorous piece today called “Bargains too good to pass up” that’s meant to poke at Microsoft’s efforts to purchase Yahoo. For less than what the Redmond giant will likely pay for Yahoo, the company could buy . . .
- Amazon (traffic, search, talent): $30bn
- NewsCorp (traffic, myspace, bully pulpit): $20bn
- Interpublic (global ad giant): $4bn
- WPP( global ad giant): $14bn
It’s probably written in jest, but raises a good point. These are dumb alternatives if the frame on the problem is, “How do we catch up to google?” They’re potentially brilliant alternatives if the question is posed differently. Therein lies one of the most important lessons in decision making: take a hard look at the question you’re asking. A different question generates a different set of alternatives.
Which is the second lesson. Give yourself more alternatives. It’s often the case that the path lies in some other, not immediately obvious direction.
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Tags: Microsoft, Yahoo, Amazon, NewsCorop, Interpublic, WPP, Decision Making, Decisions
