A good decision is not the same thing as a good outcome.
I teach and research decision science — the study of how individuals and organizations make choices under uncertainty. My work draws on economics, behavioural finance, risk management, accounting, and ethics to help people improve judgment and make better decisions in complex environments.
From the engine room to the classroom.
For more than two decades I worked in the engine room of business — as Controller, Chief Financial Officer, and Chief Executive Officer across several industries. I did not study decisions from a distance; I lived with their consequences, in budget meetings, financing choices, hiring calls, and board decisions made under real pressure and incomplete information.
Expertise about decisions is one thing. Expertise through decisions is another — and it is rarer.
For the past 14 years I have taught that experience to students: courses in accounting, economics, behavioural finance, financial decision-making, risk management, and ethics. Along the way I became less interested in any single discipline and more interested in the question that runs underneath all of them — how can people and organizations make better decisions when outcomes are uncertain?
That question is where economics, accounting, behavioural finance, risk, and ethics meet. It is the territory I write about, teach, and research as an applied decision science scholar.
The Better Decision Test
A practical framework for evaluating a decision before the outcome is known — and independent of whether it happened to turn out well.
“The quality of a decision should be judged by the quality of the process used to make it — not simply by whether the outcome was favourable.”
Is the decision clearly defined?
Do we actually know what choice we are making, and what we are trying to achieve?
Is it based on sound information?
Are we using relevant, reliable evidence — and are our assumptions made explicit?
Were real options considered?
Have meaningful alternatives been compared, rather than defending a first instinct?
Has the downside been assessed?
Have uncertainty, downside, and unintended consequences been weighed honestly?
Are biases recognized?
Have behavioural biases, incentives, and pressures on judgment been named and managed?
Is it defensible?
Is the decision responsible, accountable, and one we could explain and defend publicly?
Essays on judgment, risk & decision quality.
Short, practical pieces on how real decisions are made — and how they can be made better.
Good Decisions, Bad Outcomes: Why Decision Quality Should Be Judged Before Results Are Known
→ Core ConceptThe Difference Between a Good Decision and a Good Outcome
→ Behavioural FinanceWhy Smart People Make Bad Decisions
→ OrganizationsFive Characteristics of High-Quality Organizational Decisions
→More essays are added regularly. → View all writing
Applied decision science, grounded in public data.
Original research on how people and organizations make choices under uncertainty — using publicly available data, aimed at articles, teaching cases, and eventually a framework for evaluating decision quality.
Forecasting Failure in Economics
How accurate are the economic forecasts organizations rely on to make decisions?
Decision QualityRisk Disclosure versus Reality
Do the risks disclosed in annual reports predict the problems that follow?
Risk & Organizational DecisionsBehavioural Biases in Housing Markets
Can extrapolation, recency, and overconfidence help explain housing cycles?
Behavioural FinanceInvestor Performance Chasing
Do investors follow recent returns — and what does it cost them?
Behavioural FinanceThe Cost of Waiting
The long-term financial consequences of delaying an investment decision.
Behavioural FinanceThe Language of Risk
How organizations communicate uncertainty — and how that language shifts over time.
Risk & Organizational DecisionsDecision Quality in Public Policy
What decision-making frameworks are visible in major Canadian policy choices?
Decision QualityLessons from Failed Corporate Decisions
Recurring patterns behind major corporate failures — a case-based analysis.
Risk & Organizational DecisionsThe Decision Quality Framework Project
Building a practical, teachable model for evaluating decision quality.
Decision QualityWhy Smart Organizations Make Bad Decisions
Common patterns behind poor organizational decisions, from public cases.
Risk & Organizational DecisionsThese are active and planned research topics. Working papers and research notes will be posted here as they are completed.
Student Resources
Course materials, reading lists, and decision-making tools for current and prospective students.
- Course reading lists & primers
- The Better Decision Test — worksheet
- Recommended books & further reading
Speaking & Teaching
I deliver professional development and ethics sessions for accountants, managers, and public-sector professionals — combining practical business experience with current research.
- Ethics & professional judgment for accountants
- Decision quality under uncertainty
- Behavioural finance for practitioners
- Risk, governance & accountability
Let’s talk about better decisions.
For speaking enquiries, collaboration, or student questions, I’d be glad to hear from you.