strategicdecisions.stanford.eduStanford Strategic Decision and Risk Management | Stanford Center for Professional Development

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The program was extended as a partnership of the Stanford Center for Professional Development and Strategic Decisions Group. Across the 11 years the program was delivered, more than 9,000 professionals from across the world completed courses in the program. Participants in the program were decision-makers from diverse areas in organizations, including finance, risk management, planning, engineering, marketing, R&D, design, supply chain, business development and HR. The core of the program focused on defining the requirements of a “high-quality decision” and the concepts, tools and approaches to analyze information to make the best choice in uncertain and dynamic environments. Courses were taught by Stanford faculty and leading industry experts, and were delivered online, at work and at Stanford. During the 11 years of the program, specializations in healthcare and education were available. Upon completing two required courses and four elective courses, a participant received a professional certificate acknowledging their successful participation in the program. As of August 31, 2017, the Stanford Strategic Decision and Risk Management program ended. If you participated in the program and would like access to your records of completion, please contact Student & Client Services at scpd-information@stanford.edu . Click for more information about the courses that were included in the program: XSDR120 - Decision Quality Delivery: Online, At Work, On-Campus Available: 2006 - 2017 Overview This strategy course provided an overview of the best practices for making smarter, faster, and more creative long-term decisions. It introduced the cornerstones of making better decisions. This course was previously titled "Decision Quality in Organizations." Instructors Bruce Judd Carl Spetzler Hannah Winter Trina Weller Topics Include Build decision competency into an organization Communicate evaluation results Frame a decision appropriately Generate creative alternatives Quantify uncertainty using probability Structure and evaluate decision trees to determine the best alternative XSDR122 - Decision Analysis Delivery: Online, At Work, On-Campus Available: 2006 - 2017 Overview This technical management course presented the philosophy and analytic tools of decision analysis, the analytic foundation for all the courses in the program. The course was taught by Stanford Professor Ron Howard, who coined the name, developed the discipline, and pioneered its application to all types of decisions. The course provided a rare opportunity to study with the founder of this important field. Instructors Ron Howard Topics Include Analyze the personal and professional decisions that shape lives and organizations Avoid the pitfalls of intuitive decision-making Follow a decision approach that scales to treat decisions at all levels of importance Use the concepts that clarify thinking and choice XSDR123 - Managing Risk in Healthcare Organizations Delivery: Online, On-Campus Available: 2011- 2017 Overview This technical management course introduced a comprehensive approach for quantifying and managing downside risk and upside uncertainty in healthcare organizations. Through a combination of lectures, real-world case exercises and discussions with nationally recognized leaders in healthcare management, it offered risk managers in healthcare organizations increased skills to create value and take on greater responsibility. Instructors John Celona Carl Spetzler Topics Include Create new, integrated risk management strategies to minimize risk and maximize the value created Deal with risk tolerance and risk aversion to support transparent, consistent, and higher-value risk management decisions Quantify and manage downside risks ("bad" events) and upside uncertainty (the "upside" of risk) to make better risk management decisions Work more effectively as a risk manager and grow into roles with greater responsibility XSDR220 - Biases in Decision-Making Delivery: Online, At Work, On-Campus Available: 2007 - 2017 Overview This leadership course introduced the decision-making problems and pitfalls inherent to human nature. It described a framework for understanding how natural behavioral processes can produce biases, distortions, and mistakes in decision-making, and demonstrated many of these phenomena firsthand through individual and class exercises. The course presented preventive measures and techniques that can help decision-makers avoid potential traps, improve individual decisions, and enrich organizational decisions. This course was previously titled "Behavioral Challenges in Decision-Making." Instructors Barbara Mellers Jennifer Meyer Carl Spetzler Topics Include Detect and minimize motivational biases Identify and avoid biases in perception Identify personality differences and avoid personality-based distortions Overcome fallacies in reasoning Understand group dynamics and benefit from a group's diversity XSDR221 - Strategic Innovation and Design Thinking Delivery: Online, On-Campus, At Work Available: 2006 - 2017 Overview This strategy course provided participants a new set of tools for and experience in finding and developing innovative alternatives for addressing strategic business problems. Topics explored creativity from individual and team perspectives and identifed innovation opportunities and roadblocks in organizational settings. Interactive exercises enabled hands-on learning, and guest speakers from well-known innovators in industry shared their experiences. This course was previously titled "Strategic Innovation." Instructors Banny Banerjee Cynthia Benjamin William Burnett Carl Spetzler Topics Include Identify and work through conceptual blocks in idea generation Utilize both top-down and bottom-up tools to frame business problems Use customer experience as a driver of insightful alternative generation and develop a broad range of high-value alternatives Cycle between qualitative iteration and evaluation to improve strategic options Identify hurdles in your orga...