Ask a Decision Engineer
Even the smartest people can get tied into knots when making big decisions. Get the tools to move through decisions with less stress and more clarity. Join Stanford Decision Engineer and Coach Michelle Florendo for a comprehensive and systematic way of untangling every decision - no matter how big or small. New to the podcast? - Dip into Season 1 for why this podcast exists and the first few pilot season episodes - Binge Season 2 for tips on how to untangle an upcoming big decision - Check out Season 3 for how to navigate emotions in the decision process - Season 4 brings you insights from experts in the field who have influenced my work - Season 5 is airing Fall 2025. For more about Michelle's work, visit https://www.poweredbydecisions.com
Episodes
For more resources on decision making, or to ask Michelle a question, head over to AskADecisionEngineer.com
About Michelle Florendo
Michelle Florendo is a Stanford-trained decision engineer and executive coach who is on a mission to teach people how to make decisions with less stress and more clarity. Over the past decade, she has coached and taught hundreds of leaders across tech, healthcare, and financial services, in org...
To learn more from Michelle about decision making, check out
- The Ask A Decision Engineer website
- Her Stanford Continuing Studies course
- Her self-paced course Decision Toolkit for Personal Decisions
- Her Decision Toolkit Coaches and Counselors virtual workshop on Maven
About Michelle Florendo
Michelle Florendo is a Stanford-trained decision engineer and executive coach who is on a mission to teach people how to make de...
To learn more from Michelle about decision making, check out
- The Ask A Decision Engineer website
- Her Stanford Continuing Studies course
- Her self-paced course Decision Toolkit for Personal Decisions
- Her Decision Toolkit Coaches and Counselors virtual workshop on Maven
About Michelle Florendo
Michelle Florendo is a Stanford-trained decision engineer and executive coach who is on a mission to teach people how to make de...
To learn more from Michelle about decision making, check out
- The Ask A Decision Engineer website
- Her Stanford Continuing Studies course
- Her self-paced course Decision Toolkit for Personal Decisions
- Her Decision Toolkit Coaches and Counselors virtual workshop on Maven
About Michelle Florendo
Michelle Florendo is a Stanford-trained decision engineer and executive coach who is on a mission to teach people how to make de...
To learn more from Michelle about decision making, check out
- The Ask A Decision Engineer website
- Her Stanford Continuing Studies course
- Her self-paced course Decision Toolkit for Personal Decisions
- Her Decision Toolkit Coaches and Counselors virtual workshop on Maven
About Michelle Florendo
Michelle Florendo is a Stanford-trained decision engineer and executive coach who is on a mission to teach people how to make de...
To learn more from Michelle about decision making, check out
- The Ask A Decision Engineer website
- Her Stanford Continuing Studies course
- Her self-paced course Decision Toolkit for Personal Decisions
- Her Decision Toolkit Coaches and Counselors virtual workshop on Maven
About Michelle Florendo
Michelle Florendo is a Stanford-trained decision engineer and executive coach who is on a mission to teach people how to make de...
To learn more from Michelle about decision making, check out
- The Ask A Decision Engineer website
- Her Stanford Continuing Studies course
- Her self-paced course Decision Toolkit for Personal Decisions
- Her Decision Toolkit Coaches and Counselors virtual workshop on Maven
About Michelle Florendo
Michelle Florendo is a Stanford-trained decision engineer and executive coach who is on a mission to teach people how to make dec...
In this episode, Michelle talks about what a decision is and what it is not, while dispelling some commonly held misconceptions about decisions.
Summary:
Decisions are actions you take to influence the future.
Decisions are not:
- just about picking, they are also about process
- about what is outside of your control, they are about where you have agency
- about the past, they are forward looking
- one and done, they occur over time, in s...
In this episode Michelle shares what's at the root of decision paralysis and offers up tips on how to save time and energy in the decision making process
Resources mentioned in this episode:
Srinivas Rao's Unmistakable Creative Tribe
Thinking Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman
The Paradox of Choice by Barry Schwartz
Catching the Next Wave Podcast
Summary:
- The quality of a decision is separate and distinct from the quality of the outcome
-...
To learn more from Michelle about decision making, check out
- The Ask A Decision Engineer website
- Her Stanford Continuing Studies course
- Her self-paced course Decision Toolkit for Personal Decisions
- Her Decision Toolkit Coaches and Counselors virtual workshop on Maven
About Michelle Florendo
Michelle Florendo is a Stanford-trained decision engineer and executive coach who is on a mission to teach people how to make dec...
To learn more from Michelle about decision making, check out
- The Ask A Decision Engineer website
- Her Stanford Continuing Studies course
- Her self-paced course Decision Toolkit for Personal Decisions
- Her Decision Toolkit Coaches and Counselors virtual workshop on Maven
About Michelle Florendo
Michelle Florendo is a Stanford-trained decision engineer and executive coach who is on a mission to teach people how to make dec...
To learn more from Michelle about decision making, check out
- The Ask A Decision Engineer website
- Her Stanford Continuing Studies course
- Her self-paced course Decision Toolkit for Personal Decisions
- Her Decision Toolkit Coaches and Counselors virtual workshop on Maven
About Michelle Florendo
Michelle Florendo is a Stanford-trained decision engineer and executive coach who is on a mission to teach people how to make dec...
To learn more from Michelle about decision making, check out
- The Ask A Decision Engineer website
- Her Stanford Continuing Studies course
- Her self-paced course Decision Toolkit for Personal Decisions
- Her Decision Toolkit Coaches and Counselors virtual workshop on Maven
About Michelle Florendo
Michelle Florendo is a Stanford-trained decision engineer and executive coach who is on a mission to teach people how to make dec...
To learn more from Michelle about decision making, check out
- The Ask A Decision Engineer website
- Her Stanford Continuing Studies course
- Her self-paced course Decision Toolkit for Personal Decisions
- Her Decision Toolkit Coaches and Counselors virtual workshop on Maven
About Michelle Florendo
Michelle Florendo is a Stanford-trained decision engineer and executive coach who is on a mission to teach people how to make dec...
To learn more from Michelle about decision making, check out
- The Ask A Decision Engineer website
- Her Stanford Continuing Studies course
- Her self-paced course Decision Toolkit for Personal Decisions
- Her Decision Toolkit Coaches and Counselors virtual workshop on Maven
About Michelle Florendo
Michelle Florendo is a Stanford-trained decision engineer and executive coach who is on a mission to teach people how to make dec...
When facing big decisions, even the smartest people can get tied into knots. But it doesn't have to be that way. Hi, I'm Michelle Florendo. I studied decision engineering at Stanford and over the past 15 years, I've helped hundreds of people navigate complex decisions in their professional and personal lives.
In season three of my podcast, Ask a Decision Engineer, we'll be tackling ALL THE FEELS. You know, when you wish you could j...
We need to stop thinking that the best decisions are ones made in an emotional vacuum. There's a cost to ignoring how we feel. At best we leave useful data on the table. But at worst,
- we waste time beholden to emotions that do have a powerful hold over us
- we make decisions that deliver on the opposite of what we actually want
- we exhaust ourselves by only using a portion of the brainpower that we could possibly be using.
The more...
If you have already decided what course of action to take, but are having a hard time actually acting on it, explore:
- what emotions are arising as you think about taking action?
- where are those emotions coming from?
- if one of those emotions is fear or dread, what is on the other side of that?
- if what you fear were to come to fruition, what will you decide to do then?
- how might you keep the positive benefits of the course of action y...
Today's episode touches on a number of different feelings: the excitement of a new path and the doubts around whether it will pan out the questioning around how much our desires are a result of the culture we've been surrounded by, or if deep down inside, we actually want something else. When we feel like we are swimming in an ocean of thoughts and feelings, it can be extremely useful to get those thoughts down on paper in a struct...
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