Principles for decision-making

What you want > what you can do

Author

Casa Cinco
June 18, 2024

Hola, hola! Welcome to Casa Cinco, a weekly newsletter curating connection.

Are you building or investing in human connection? See the bottom of this email and connect with Casa Cinco.

This week I’m taking about principles for decision-making, connection over utility, and a space in London designed to make the world a better place. Happy reading!

Here’s to connecting,

Andy

PRINCIPLES FOR DECISION-MAKING

“There is a part where you will have jumped, but you still don’t know whether you’re flying or falling. What keeps you going is conviction”

Liam Black at The Conduit’s discussion on How to Lead with Purpose

I was recently having coffee with a friend who had quit her job in venture capital and was exploring what to do next.

She had made ‘the jump’, leaving the (relative) comfort of a stable job in pursuit of… well, that’s what she was out to solve for.

‘I’m considering taking another venture capital role back in my hometown, perhaps switching to a different corporate job here in London, or maybe even becoming a tech entrepreneur. I’m a bit unsure of what to do, but it’s all great!’

Wait, what?

I was proud of her taking the jump, but how could she possibly fairly assess and compare between her options? That’s where my non-diagnosed OCD kicked in. You need a system, girl. Let’s first figure out what you want.

Let’s ‘spice’ this up, amiright?

We often struggle making decisions because we don’t know what we’re solving for in the first place. Put simply - if my friend were solving for financial stability and family, for instance, she’d only be seriously considering 1 out of the 3 options she shared with me.

More often than not, the issue isn’t that we don’t have options. The issue lies in that we can’t assess our options effectively (or correctly) because we don’t know what we want.

In a recent interview with Oso Trava, for those of you who speak Spanish, Daniel Bilbao offers his take on this. In short: the less you know what to do, the more you should look inside.

Establishing what you want for yourself, or your company, first will ground your decision-making on principles. Principles, in turn, offer a more accountable, faster, and more consistent way of making decisions. All in the name of efficiencies, people!  

By now, you should have picked up on the double meaning of this newsletter’s title. It’s not about giving you a set of steps to take, or principles, for making decisions. Instead, it’s about encouraging you to establish your own principles for doing so (a step in itself, but let’s not get confusing).

“More than outcome accountability, implement process accountability - evaluating how carefully different options are considered as people make decisions. If the process was deep, regardless of the outcome, that’s a success”

Adam Grant, Think Again

The inspiration for you is: Whether in business or life, understand what you want. Use that as a set of principles for decision-making and only then go out into the world to make them.

As a side note: one of the biggest decisions we make is what to do for a living.

For any of you going through a professional transition and in need of a nudge, an unofficial mentor once suggested I pick the three most important ‘principles’ out of the following list and assess job opportunities against them.

It’s what I’ve done since for any job I take and, more importantly, any job I’ve quit (i.e. when the job is not living up to my principles). Give it a try!

  • Purpose

  • Team culture / fit

  • Compensation

  • Upward mobility / career path

  • Flexibility

  • Title / company name

  • Work / life balance (lots to say about this, but let’s go with it)

  • Others you’d include?

WEEKLY CURATION

PEOPLE
PRODUCTS & SERVICES

  • 🍴Wonderbelly: fighting digestive issues without the harm (Tums users, make sure to check them out!)

  • 🥣Goodles: mac & cheese, done better

  • ☀️Freee: Best breakfast cereal in the UK (I’ve had 3 boxes in 1 week…)

PLACES

  • ✈️Six trends shaping new business models in tourism and hospitality (of course the article talks about experiences!)

  • 🏠Kindred: a space in London for homegrown events designed to foster connection and change the world for the better

  • ☕Redemption Roasters: reducing reoffending through coffee

CONNECT WITH CASA CINCO

Are you an entrepreneur or investor in hospitality, consumer, or community? Not sure if what you do fits in these categories, but you’re all about human connection?

More than simply alive, are you helping others to live more fully?

Join others like you by replying to this email with the subject line “MEMBER” and connect with the Casa Cinco network.

We’ll talk soon. Thank you for joining me at Casa Cinco.

Did a friend send this your way? Sounds like they know you. Subscribe here.

Was this marked as spam? ChatGPT that thing and take me to your main inbox.

“… When you make something, when you improve something, when you deliver something, when you add some new thing or service to the lives of strangers, making them happier, or healthier, or safer, or better, and when you do it all crisply and efficiently, smartly, the way everything should be done but so seldom is - you’re participating more fully in the grand whole human drama. More than simply alive, you’re helping others to live more fully…”

Phil Knight, Shoedog

Reply

or to participate.