Decision Making and Problem Solving

Have you ever wondered why some people seem to make sound decisions effortlessly while others overthink and get stuck? In Decision Making and Problem Solving Strategies, leadership expert John Adair argues that the root difference lies in understanding and mastering our own thinking processes. The book’s core claim is that effective decision making, problem solving, and creative thinking are not mysterious talents reserved for the gifted — they are disciplines that can be learned, practiced, and refined.

Adair contends that the best thinkers recognize that thought itself is a skill — one that integrates the mind’s analytical, creative, and evaluative powers. The book guides you to sharpen these faculties and to harness what Adair calls the Depth Mind, that powerful subconscious layer where insights incubate and intuition forms. By learning how to coordinate conscious reasoning with this deeper intelligence, you set the stage for consistently sound decisions and inventive solutions.

The Need for Intellectual Leadership

Adair begins by asserting that in the modern workplace, people are hired not for their physical strength but for their ability to think. As leaders, he stresses, we carry a duty to provide intellectual leadership — to ensure that our teams make decisions wisely, solve problems systematically, and keep generating ideas. The difference between an average manager and an excellent one, Adair says, is a grasp of process. You can’t control outcomes, because luck and chance play their parts, but you can always improve your process of thinking.

Thinking as a Joy, Not a Burden

Many people view thinking as laborious work, something close to a mental headache. Adair challenges this perception, describing thinking as a form of fun. Not trivial fun, but a deep engagement that brings satisfaction. He cites businessman Roy Thompson, who noted that few people are willing to “think until it hurts,” but those who do often reach excellence. Adair’s reframing encourages readers to treat thinking like an invigorating intellectual sport — effortful, but rewarding.

Three Interwoven Currents of Thought

At the core of the book is Adair’s model of the mind’s three functions: analysis, synthesis, and valuing. Analysis means breaking wholes into parts — the logical and deductive process central to reasoning. Synthesis reverses that motion, bringing parts together to form meaningful wholes and new ideas. Valuing introduces judgement — deciding which ideas are worthwhile, relevant, or morally sound. The interplay of these three functions mirrors what psychologists like Bloom or Guilford have described as levels of cognitive complexity. Adair’s contribution is his insistence that true mastery lies in balancing all three rather than overdeveloping one.

“Few people have these functions in harmonious balance. Our differing mental strengths are a powerful reason why we need each other.”

Adair’s philosophy suggests that effective thinking is both individual and collaborative. You must practice disciplined self-reflection — thinking for yourself — but also welcome the viewpoints of others, whose minds can complement your own biases. This twofold practice gives thinking its full social and ethical character.

The Power of the Depth Mind

Perhaps the most distinctive idea in the book is the Depth Mind principle. Adair introduces it as the realm of subconscious or intuitive thought that continues to work on problems beneath the surface of awareness. Citing stories from business leaders like hotel magnate Conrad Hilton, who changed his bid price on a hunch that later proved right, Adair argues that the Depth Mind often knows before the intellect does. The trick is learning to listen to it — by “sleeping on” difficult problems, keeping notebooks for spontaneous ideas, and cultivating a friendly attitude towards intuition.

Unlike mysticism, Adair’s Depth Mind concept aligns with modern cognitive science’s findings about incubation effects — the phenomenon where stepping away from a problem allows unconscious processing to deliver insights later. The book encourages deliberate partnership with this inner faculty: feed it good information (“garbage in, garbage out”), give it time, then trust its output.

Why These Ideas Matter

Our world rewards rapid response, but Adair’s message is timeless: speed without clarity leads to confusion, and data without discernment causes paralysis. His models offer leaders a way to think with structure — not rigid formulas, but flexible patterns that mirror the natural flow of thought. Whether you’re analyzing business options, solving team conflicts, or creating new strategies, understanding how the mind works gives you an edge in every domain.

As the chapters unfold, Adair develops this foundation into a comprehensive toolkit: a five-step method for decision making, techniques for sharing decisions with teams, a unified model for problem solving, methods for generating ideas (like brainstorming and lateral thinking), and strategies for developing your overall thinking capability. Throughout, he connects disciplined reasoning with creativity, showing that sound logic and imagination are allies, not opposites. By combining conscious effort with the quiet diligence of the Depth Mind, you can become — in his words — a “master of the processes of practical thinking.”

Before you can make better decisions, you have to understand the tool making them — your mind. Adair begins his journey into decision-making by dissecting the structure and function of human thought. The brain, he notes, is the most complex object in the known universe, with billions of cells creating unimaginable combinations. But thought doesn’t happen in those cells directly; it lives in a different space — the mind, which is the dynamic, conscious experience of those brain processes at work.

Three Core Functions of Thought

Adair identifies three main functions of the human mind: analyzing, synthesizing, and valuing. Each corresponds to a different way of engaging the world. Analyzing involves breaking things down — the scientist’s skill, the logical diagnosis. Synthesizing brings disparate pieces together into coherent wholes, sparking imagination and innovation. Valuing, finally, is the faculty that judges significance — the moral and evaluative dimension that tells us which ideas matter most. Together, these functions form a balanced cognitive ecosystem.

Most people, Adair says, are stronger in one area than others. Analytical types dominate Western education; creative synthesizers thrive in artistic or entrepreneurial fields; valuers excel in leadership and judgement. The most effective thinkers work to strengthen their weaker muscles.

The Role of Intuition and the Depth Mind

Beneath conscious processing lies what Adair calls the Depth Mind — a layer of sub-awareness where problems continue to churn after one stops thinking about them. This system integrates subconscious memory, pattern recognition, and intuition. The mind doesn’t stop working when you do; often, when you “sleep on it,” new insights surface organically. Adair provides anecdotes from Roy Thomson, who routinely allowed his Depth Mind to work overnight on business dilemmas, waking with solutions by morning.

Thinking in Balance

Adair uses the metaphor of exercising underdeveloped muscles to describe intellectual balance. Like a trainer alternating arm and leg days, you should stretch underused functions. Analytical people must deliberately practice imaginative synthesis; creatives must strengthen evaluative judgement. Harmony among all three yields not only clearer reasoning but also ethical integrity and emotional intelligence. As John Dewey observed — quoted by Adair — “We do not think as long as things run smoothly; it is only when a difficulty interrupts routine that we begin to think.”

Adair’s five-step method for decision making transforms an often chaotic process into a structured rhythm. He presents it not as rigid procedure, but as a natural sequence your mind follows when thinking clearly. Each step involves a different cognitive skill, often oscillating between logic, intuition, and values.

1. Define the Objective

Start by sharpening your aim. Adair warns that most poor decisions stem from fuzzy goals. “If you don’t know what port you’re heading for,” he writes, “any wind is the right wind.” Write down your objective, step back, and revisit it to ensure clarity. This anchors your process in purpose.

2. Collect Relevant Information

Next, gather information — but only what’s relevant. Modern professionals, Adair cautions, suffer from “Information Overload Syndrome.” He distinguishes between available and relevant data, urging readers to focus on the latter. Too much information produces paralysis, not wisdom. Understand when to stop; beyond a certain point, additional input yields diminishing returns.

3. Generate Feasible Options

Once you know your goal and have essential facts, you must create and compare options. Adair encourages “the lobster pot” method — start wide with as many possibilities as you can think of, then narrow to a few feasible ones. Avoid falling into the “either–or” trap; creativity often yields a third, overlooked path (echoing Alfred Sloan of General Motors, who refused to decide until his team produced at least three alternatives).

4. Make the Decision

Here your valuing faculty comes to the forefront. Adair introduces the MUST–SHOULD–MIGHT framework: identify criteria your decision must meet, should meet, and might ideally meet. Balancing these categories helps weigh trade-offs rationally while respecting human values. He also distinguishes between wrong decisions (honest mistakes due to incomplete knowledge) and bad decisions (avoidable errors caused by ignoring reason or evidence). Mastering process prevents the latter.

5. Implement and Evaluate

The word “decision,” Adair reminds us, comes from the Latin for “to cut off.” Once made, you must move into action. Still, he encourages ongoing reflection before crossing the Point of No Return (PNR) — the moment when reversing costs more than proceeding. After implementation, evaluate the outcome not only to measure success but to enrich your Depth Mind with new experience for future decisions.

Adair cites research from the University of Amsterdam: in complex choices, people who distracted their conscious minds (letting the subconscious process data) made better decisions. The implication is clear: good decision-making blends reasoned analysis with intuitive depth.

Decision making is rarely a solitary affair. Adair links leadership and decision making through his famous Three-Circle Model of overlapping needs: task, team, and individual. Every team simultaneously strives to accomplish a shared goal, maintain group cohesion, and satisfy personal needs. Balancing these is the hallmark of effective leadership.

Balancing Control and Participation

How much of the decision should a leader share? Adair presents a continuum between control (leader decides alone) and freedom (the team decides collectively). The right point depends on three factors: available time, the team’s competence, and the leader’s willingness to relinquish control. In crises, autocracy may be necessary; in stable periods, shared decision-making fosters motivation and innovation.

Action-Centered Leadership

Every decision connects to functions within the three circles — defining objectives, planning, controlling progress, maintaining morale. Adair stresses that leaders should not perform all functions alone but ensure that every function is performed. This makes leadership a distributed skill. The overlap of “thinking with others” reveals decision making as both cognitive and social — reasoning and relationship intertwined.

“The more people share in decisions that affect their work life, the more motivated they are to implement them.”

As Fort Dunlop and Sumitomo’s story shows, valuable insights often come from the shop floor. Adair’s leadership philosophy parallels modern participatory management models, such as Peter Drucker’s emphasis on self-management or Daniel Goleman’s concept of resonant leadership. Listening, he argues, is not a soft skill — it’s an intelligence amplifier that channels the collective Depth Mind of the group.

In distinguishing problem solving from decision making, Adair invites a mental shift. Problems, he writes, are not obstructions but opportunities for creative engagement. The word comes from the Greek for “something thrown in front of you.” Solving it is not about removing the obstacle but discovering its hidden order.

The Bridge Model

Adair presents a unified bridge model linking decision making and problem solving: you start by defining what the issue really is, then generate feasible options, and finally choose an optimum solution. Like building a bridge across a river, it requires laying logical steps so others can follow your reasoning. The model allows teams to synchronize their thinking phases, avoiding confusion or duplication.

Asking the Right Questions

At the heart of problem solving lies inquiry. Adair offers a checklist of questions — When did the issue begin? What exactly is the deviation? Who’s involved? Why is it persisting? These mirror the journalist’s W5H formula (Who, What, When, Where, Why, How). Asking better questions, he says, triggers the Depth Mind’s pattern recognition ability, often revealing overlooked connections.

Systems Problems

For systems problems — deviations from a norm rather than one-off obstacles — Adair advises diagnosing the point of deviation and isolating its cause. Like a doctor tracing symptoms to a disease, the effective problem solver treats causes, not effects. He warns against the “fallacy of the single cause,” reminding that complex issues often combine several interacting factors.

Ultimately, he portrays problem solving as exhilarating mental play: “To act is easy; to think is hard.” Success, Adair insists, depends as much on attitude — seeing thinking as enjoyable — as on method.

When logic fails, creativity begins. Adair devotes an entire chapter to idea generation, focusing on brainstorming as the most accessible doorway to creativity. First introduced in the 1930s, brainstorming has endured because it unlocks what he calls functional fixedness — the trap of seeing an object or situation in only one way.

How to Brainstorm Effectively

Adair lists four golden rules: suspend judgment, welcome wild ideas, aim for quantity, and build on others’ contributions. Judgment, he warns, kills creativity early, like “unseasonable frost nipping the buds of spring.” By separating the synthesizing phase (idea generation) from the valuing phase (evaluation), you give imagination the space to play freely. Later, logic will prune the garden; first, let it bloom.

Examples of Brainstorming Success

Adair cites how Pilkington’s engineers solved a glass inspection problem with three ideas generated among 29 in five minutes, and how Heinz used 195 ideas, eight of which reached market immediately. He notes that ideas often incubate after sessions — the Depth Mind, once “programmed” by collective energy, continues its silent work, producing delayed inspiration (as with the company that later designed a record-breaking Tutankhamun jigsaw).

Liberating Your Imagination

Brainstorming, however, is only a start. Its spirit lies in generosity — letting your ideas mingle, be built upon, and refined by others. Thomas Edison’s motto, “I start where the last man left off,” epitomizes that humility. Creative thinking, Adair concludes, thrives in environments of praise, collaboration, and curiosity. A leader’s task is to create such conditions, for “only God owns the intellectual property rights to truth.”

The phrase “thinking outside the box,” now ubiquitous in business language, actually originates from Adair himself. He uses it to describe the mindset of escaping unconscious assumptions — those invisible boxes that confine imagination and reason. To illustrate, he revisits two classic puzzles from the book’s opening: connecting nine dots with four lines, and forming four triangles from six matches. Each requires breaking free from self-imposed limits.

From Vertical to Lateral Thinking

Building on Edward de Bono’s concept of lateral thinking, Adair contrasts two mental styles: vertical thinking (logical, step-by-step) versus lateral thinking (exploratory, tangential). Vertical thinkers move sequentially, seeking correctness; lateral thinkers jump sideways, seeking difference. When Henry Ford reversed the conventional manufacturing approach — moving cars past stationary workers — he demonstrated lateral genius.

The Creative Process

Adair formalizes the four phases of creative thinking: Preparation (gathering and analyzing data), Incubation (allowing the Depth Mind to percolate), Insight (the “Eureka!” moment), and Validation (testing ideas). These aren’t linear but cyclical, like musical notes played in different chords. The incubation phase, he likens to “sitting on eggs until the young birds of ideas emerge.”

Overcoming Mental Roadblocks

Common cognitive blocks include lack of facts, conviction, starting points, or motivation. Adair advises tackling each systematically: research more, redefine objectives, start anywhere, and replenish purpose. Notably, he warns that unconscious assumptions — like those that doomed Hoover’s disastrous “Free Flights” campaign — can blind leaders to reality. To think creatively is to continually ask, “What am I assuming — and what if it’s wrong?”

Adair ends this chapter with rich metaphors: creative thinkers lower a bucket into the subconscious to draw up something new; the intellect alone cannot force invention. Echoing Einstein and E.M. Forster, he insists that intuition is not opposed to reason but is reason’s highest form, operating just beneath awareness.

The final chapter turns from theory to action: how to cultivate yourself as an effective practical thinker. Adair encourages self-directed learning, since no university discipline formally teaches decision-making as a skill. “When you learn,” he writes, “you are being taught — by yourself.”

Learning from Mentors

He suggests an exercise: list people whose thinking you admire — colleagues, leaders, historical figures — and note their specific mental skills. Then build a composite of your ideal thinker by combining those strengths: another’s analysis, someone else’s imagination, a third person’s courage or clarity. The imaginary “Mr. or Ms. ABCDEFGHI” represents excellence beyond perfection, toward which you aspire.

Finding the Right Field

Next, examine whether your work fits your thinking style. Adair, echoing Dimitri Comino, advises aligning vocation with intrinsic motivation: “It’s hard to motivate people; it’s better to select motivated ones.” Choose fields that match your interests, aptitudes, and temperament, since forced learning rarely sticks. An analytical mind may thrive in engineering; a valuing mind, in leadership or ethics.

Continual Self-Development

Adair provides a practical self-learning plan: reread and underline principles, interview top decision-makers, write mini case studies on good and bad organizational decisions, and curate your insights in a reflective notebook. Attend seminars, read broadly (especially biographies), and invite criticism as feedback. True learning, he insists, marries experience with principles; experience alone is too slow, and theory alone is hollow.

“Knowledge is only a rumor until it is in the muscle.” — Papua New Guinea proverb

Just as an athlete strengthens muscles through repetition, a thinker builds intellectual agility through practice. Adair frames this as a joyful responsibility: treat thinking as an adventure, a craft to be refined over a lifetime. In doing so, you not only make better decisions and solve smarter problems — you embody the deeper ideal of practical wisdom, where intelligence, experience, and goodness converge.