Better Decisions Begin Before the Decision
Is your organization paying for decisions it could have influenced earlier?
Organizations depend on people to make consequential decisions every day, often under significant and increasing pressure.
Yet they often don’t see what’s shaping those decisions until the consequences become visible.
A problem wasn’t surfaced.
A concern wasn’t escalated.
A small compromise became a larger one.
By the time the problem is visible, opportunities to influence the decision may have already passed.
What if you could see more earlier?
The decision itself rarely begins at the moment of choice.
Long before someone decides what to do, pressure, beliefs, perceived stakes, identity, and their environment are shaping what they see, what feels possible, and what they believe they need to do.
Most organizations have systems designed to detect what people do.
My work helps organizations recognize more of what’s shaping those decisions, creating more opportunities to influence what happens next.
Recognize more. Intervene earlier. Decide better.
I help organizations move further upstream by focusing on three areas:
Decision Architecture
Recognize what’s shaping the person making the decision.
Decision Environment
Shape the conditions surrounding consequential decisions.
Decision Foundation
Equip people to choose more deliberately under pressure.
Together, they create more visibility, earlier opportunities for intervention, and better decisions when the stakes are high.
From Inside the Decision Itself
I understand consequential decision-making from a perspective few people have access to:
From inside the decision itself and its consequences.
As a trusted employee, I made a series of increasingly compromised decisions that led to an $800,000 fraud against a Fortune 100 company, a federal conviction, and two years in prison.
For more than a decade, I’ve been examining one question:
Why did I sacrifice so much for so little?
That inquiry became a body of work exploring what shapes consequential decisions before they become visible from the outside.
Today, I bring that work into organizations through speaking engagements, workshops, and leadership sessions.
Bring the Work Into Your Organization
Recognize more of what’s shaping consequential decisions, create conditions that support better ones, and equip people to choose more deliberately under pressure.
Speaking Engagements • Workshops • Leadership Sessions
Bringing the Work Into Organizations
Craig’s work explores a question every organization depends on: What shapes the decisions people make when the stakes are high? By examining the pressures, beliefs, perceived stakes, identity, and environments shaping consequential decisions before they become visible from the outside, he helps organizations recognize more, intervene earlier, and create more opportunities for better decisions.
Where The Work Began
Blank Canvas is a memoir about success, self-deception, collapse, consequence, and rebuilding.
Recognized by James Altucher as one of the most impactful hybrid books he has ever recommended.
My story provides the context.
The questions it forced me to ask became the foundation of my work.
Recent Writing
Identity. Decision-Making. Self-Authorship. Human Behavior.
Explore essays and reflections on the hidden forces shaping our lives and the choices that create them.
The Latest from Craig
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What Are You Asking Success to Fix That It Never Can?
What are you really chasing? The corner office, the German sports sedan, the Swiss watch, the latest release of the newest gadget, the club membership. Really, deep down, what are all the externals you’re chasing? Are they indicators of success? Are they what proves you’ve made it? Are they what you…
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The Truth Men Learn Too Late
This is what men get wrong all the time. I know I did, so I don’t judge. They think their identity comes from external sources. They are their job title, their brokerage statement, their home, their cars, their net-worth. When you source your identity from externals, you’re outsourcing your self-worth. Your…
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I Wasn’t Building a Life, I Was Building a Prison
I’ve been thinking about my pre-prison fears. And I had them wrong. Pre-prison, I had a corporate career and built what would be considered a successful life. The cars, the clothes, the watches, the houses, the status. The truth is, I didn’t like my career; I liked the lifestyle my career…
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The More I Let Go of Control, the Safer I Become
It sounds backward, but the more scary things I do, the safer I become. I had this realization a few months ago. It runs counter to everything I’ve thought about my life. Chasing Safety Through Control Before prison, I lived like so many high achievers do, chasing safety through control. Control…
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Control is An Illusion, I Did This Instead
Perfectionism. The need to be right. Shrinking so I’m not seen. Rehearsing future conversations in my head. For me (and I’m guessing for most), these are protective actions I take to control the situation and, even more so, the outcome. I’ve done all these to varying degrees throughout my life and…
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James Altucher’s Book Recommendations Include Blank Canvas: How I Reinvented My Life After Prison
James Altucher, best-selling author and host of The James Altucher Show, recently recognized my memoir, Blank Canvas: How I Reinvented My Life After Prison, as one of the most impactful hybrid books ever written. He placed it alongside some of the world’s most influential best-sellers and James Altucher book recommendations he…
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