Apollo 13 (1995). When an oxygen tank explodes on the spacecraft, NASA’s ground team and the astronauts must make a series of rapid, imperfect decisions to bring the crew home safely. The film highlights how quick thinking, adaptability, and the willingness to improvise are valued over waiting for perfect solutions. The mantra “failure is not an option” underscores the urgency and necessity of fast action.
Scope
Americans consciously break down complexity into its component parts in order to focus on what is essential. Because of that the scope of their decisions is narrow. Americans avoid interconnecting too many decisions.
Analysis
Americans gather limited, but highly relevant, information. In-depth analysis is done only when necessary. Americans apply rigorous tools of analysis. However, they balance analysis with pragmatism.
Resources
The USA has always been abundant in resources. Americans are less economical. In what they make, how they make it, how they use it. Instead, they value rapid resource aggregation and deployment in order to take advantage of opportunities.
Time
In the U.S. an imperfect but fast decision is often preferred over a perfect but slow decision. Imperfect decisions can be corrected. For Americans speed is always of the essence.
Risk
Historically America has always had generous margins of error: resource rich, protected by two oceans, two neighbors posing no threat. Mistakes were seldom costly. Risk-taking often paid off. Americans take risks.
Disagree and commit
Number 25. From 37signals, the company behind the project management software called Basecamp. Classiv American thinking: think, debate, persuade … decide, then commit and support. One of the founders, Jason Fried, is a very interesting person.
instinctive decision-making
Sully (2016). Based on the real-life Miracle on the Hudson, Captain Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger makes a split-second decision to land his disabled plane on the Hudson River. The film shows how immediate, instinctive decision-making can save lives, and that reviewing and correcting decisions can come later.