Avoid a Narrow Frame
A decision-making framework that encourages widening options, testing assumptions, gaining distance, and preparing to be wrong to overcome narrow framing.
THE IDEA
Widen Your Options
- Reality-Test Your Assumptions
- Attain Distance Before Deciding
- Prepare to Be Wrong
2 Avoid a Narrow Frame
When to use it
Choosing between multiple job offers or career paths
Evaluating strategic moves in business (e.g., buy vs. build vs. partner)
Making personal life decisions such as moving to a new city or making a major purchase
Overcoming binary thinking in negotiations or conflict resolution
FROM THEORY TO EVERYDAY LIFE
In practice
Career Decision
When deciding between two job offers, apply the framework: widen options by considering other opportunities or negotiations, reality-test assumptions about each role, attain distance by imagining advising a friend, and prepare to be wrong by planning for possible regrets.
Business Strategy
A company facing a 'make or buy' decision uses the framework to explore partnerships, licensing, or incremental build, rather than being trapped in a narrow binary choice.
A MOMENT TO REFLECT
Put it to work.
What options might you be ignoring in your current decision?
How can you test one key assumption you are making about the situation?
If you were advising a friend with the same dilemma, what would you recommend?
Often confused with
CONTINUE THE CONVERSATION
Source texts
- Decisive How to Make Better Choices in Life and Work (Chip Heath)