Quote
“The first villain of decision making, narrow framing, is the tendency to define our choices too narrowly, to see them in binary terms.”
— Chip Heath & Dan Heath, in Decisive (2013) · Decisive →
Why it was said
Chip and Dan Heath open Decisive by naming four villains of decision making, and narrow framing comes first. The line sets up the book's first remedy, widening your options, which is the W in their WRAP process.
What it actually means
Most bad decisions are not bad choices between good options; they are choices made between too few options. "Should I take this job or not?" "Should we fire the agency or keep it?" Framed that way, the question has thrown away every other path before the thinking starts. The Heaths call this a villain because it feels like clarity. A binary question looks decisive and simple, but it quietly assumes the only alternatives are the two on the table. The cure is not more deliberation over the same two options. It is going back one step and asking what else could be done: a third option, a combination, a small experiment, a different use of the same money or time.
How to use it
- 1When you hear yourself say "whether or not", stop and generate at least two more options before comparing any of them.
- 2Ask the vanishing-options question: if neither of the current options were possible, what would you do?
- 3Look for an "and" instead of an "or": a way to try both options in a smaller form at the same time.