The Head Game

High Efficiency Analytic Decision-Making and the Art of Solving Complex Problems Quickly

By: Philip Mudd

Narrated by: Gregory Abbey

Length: 7 hrs and 9 mins

Publisher's summary

Become a High Efficiency Analytic Decision maker.

We've all been there: faced with a major decision yet overwhelmed by the very data that is supposed to help us. It's an all-too-common struggle in the digital age, when Google searches produce a million results in a split second, and software programs provide analysis faster than we could ever hope to read it. Adapting the geopolitical and historical lessons gleaned from over two decades in government intelligence, Philip Mudd - an ex-National Security Council staff member and former senior executive at the FBI and the CIA - finally gives us the definitive guidebook for how to approach complex decisions today.

Filled with logical yet counterintuitive answers to ordinary and extraordinary problems - whether it's buying a new home or pivoting a failing business model - Mudd's HEAD (High Efficiency Analytic Decision-making) methodology provides listeners with a battle-tested set of guiding principles that promise to bring order to even the most chaotic problems, all in five practical steps:

• What's the question? Analysts often believe that questions are self-evident, but focusing on better questions upfront always yields better answers later.
• What are your drivers? The human mind has a hard time juggling information, so analysts need a system to break down complex questions into different characteristics, or drivers.
• How will you measure performance? Once the question has been solidified and the drivers determined, an analyst must decide what metrics they will use to understand how a problem - and their solution to it - is evolving over time.
• What about the data? Rather than looking at each bit of information on its own and upfront, an analyst can overcome data overload only by plugging data into their driver categories and excising anything that doesn't fit.

©2015 Philip Mudd (P)2015 Audible, Inc.

Struggling With Big Questions?

What made the experience of listening to The Head Game the most enjoyable?

If you’re having trouble making a decision, this book might be of use to you. I saw Mudd on Charlie Rose and enjoyed the fact that he had, if I recall, a masters in literature. So here you have someone from the CIA writing about decision making connecting it to, essentially, IR (International Relations) who knows how to write.

I think the best way to listen to this book is to ramp up the audio to 1.5x or, if you can keep up with it at 2x that’s actually better as the speed and ideas seem more natural at that rate.

You might want to make use of the Bookmark function as there are some great little thoughts on everyday life that you’ll probably want to share with someone.

What about Greg Abbey’s performance did you like?

Fantastic.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

DUDE, WHERE'S MY High Efficiency Analytic Decision-Making and the Art of Solving Complex Problems Quickly?

Wordy

This book is very boring. I feel that it's 6 hours of repeating. This book could've been 50 pages and been just as useful.

Analytical look at analysis

I will start this review by saying that I am an analyst and this subject matter is right up my alley. The author provided me with new ways to view an issue, which I can use immediately. Kudos!

My only negative comment is in the narrator. Mispronouncing “realtor” as “re-la-tor” and “nuclear” as “nu-cu-lar” makes me twitch. If you can get past that, then you’ll have no problem.

This is an in depth dissection of analysis and not what one would classify as an easy weekend read. Yet, if analysis is your thing, it will speak your language.

Interesting content poorly read

I should have bought the paper book.

The narrator's intonation is suitable for blockbuster trailers, but gets annoying past the first sentences. Not every line should be read with a disproportionate sense of anxiety and importance.

I also wish the author would illustrate the concepts with more business or life examples, instead of always referring to CIA activities. This makes relating to the content unnecessarily abstract.

Overall, I recommend the (paper) read.