Decisions, Decisions

Consulting and Seminars from H.F. Lillywhite, LLC

503-649-7647 email: decisions@hfl-llc.com

The quality of our work and our lives depends, to a great extent, on the quality of the decisions we make.

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Should my company invest in a new project or product line?

How do we determine what to bid on this project?

What can we do to improve the chances of project success?

Should I start my own business or stay with the corporate world?

How do we deal with lack of time, resources, and information?

Should I marry? Have children? Move to a new home?

Note: Due to the current economic difficulties, all prices have been reduced 20%.  We hope thus to encourage businesses to take advantage of our services and make better decisions.  Each good decision is a step toward profitability for the business involved and recovery for the economy as a whole.

These questions and others involve risk and uncertainty. While we cannot guarantee the outcome we want, we can make decisions that give us the best chance of success. Often an outside consultant can bring a different viewpoint or new knowledge to the question and help improve the chance of a positive outcome.

Located near Hillsboro, Oregon H.F. Lillywhite, LLC offers seminars and consulting in decision-making, especially decisions that must be made under uncertainty and risk. Our goal is to help clients avoid common decision-making mistakes, fully consider all objectives and options, and finally pick the most appropriate course of action. We can help clients with:

Objective, independent review of decisions.

Avoiding common human errors, including many that are built into the human mind.

Determining outcome probabilities and effects.

Emotional aspects of decision-making, both good and bad.

Organized methods of:

Gathering information about all objectives and effects of any decision, and

Using that information to make the appropriate decision.

We also offer seminars to improve decision making skills. Short seminars are one to two hours long, full-length seminars may last eight to fifteen hours.  Continuing Education Units (CEU's) are available.

Philosophy

Our philosophy is that decisions must consider both "hard" and "soft" issues.  Desires are important to our lives, they drive us and make life worth living.  However in decision-making, desire must be tempered by reason.  We should neither ignore our desires and emotions nor allow them to completely rule our decisions.  By combining science and reason with a knowledge of what we want, we can make decisions that will enhance our lives.

We should also combine the strengths of both the intuitive and rational sides of our minds.  Neither alone will provide the best decisions for our lives and work.  However if these "two minds" work together we can more effectively meet life's challenges.

Comments about seminars:

“I had a great time at the class. I would like to attend more classes like it because they make me think and give me good practice.” (Earleen, Community Emergency Response Team Member.)

I enjoyed the class. The teacher was well organized, professional, and interested in teaching/educating us. (Marc, Community Emergency Response Team Member)

Overview of Services

The quality of our work and our lives depends, to a great extent, on the decisions we make. However in many cases we must make decisions before we know what the outcome will be. Those decisions bring uncertainty and risk. Indeed, we face uncertainty and risk with nearly every significant decision we make.

"The one talent which is worth all other talents put together in all human affairs is the talent of judging right upon imperfect materials, the talent if you please of guessing right. It is a talent which no rules will ever teach and which even experience does not always give." James Fitzjames Stephen, Liberty, Equality, Fraternity (Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 1993) p212

Though Mr. Fitzjames statement above is generally true, there are scientific means, rules if you will, of "guessing" in such a manner as to give ourselves the best chance of the outcome we desire. Hal Lillywhite will bring that science to those times when you are called upon to "judge right upon imperfect materials." This scientific method, combined with your experience and knowledge of your business, will help improve your chance of a good result.

We all face such decisions "upon imperfect materials," or as we might say, decisions under uncertainty and risk. Should we undertake a project or purchase some equipment at work? If we take the opportunity, we may lose the investment. If we reject the opportunity, a competitor may take business away from us, or we may forgo the benefits that investment would have given us. Private decisions, such as where to live, how to invest, even whom to marry can all have unforeseen consequences - and those private decisions may also affect our work life.

Uncertainty is a part of this life. We cannot avoid all risk. What we can do is make decisions that will give us the best chance of success. We won't always "win" but if we decide wisely we will give ourselves a better chance.

H.F. Lillywhite, LLC offers consulting and seminars in how to improve our chance of success. This involves:

a. Understanding what misleads us
b. How probability works and how to use it to our advantage
c. Some cognitive psychology issues
d. An organized process of gathering information and using it wisely, and
e. A lot of just plain taking care to understand the situation while we can still change our plan of action

The primary goal of the consulting and seminars is that client decisions will improve, thus enhancing profitability and improving both business and personal decisions.