Making decisions based on invisible inputs is like building a sky scraper without a blue-print. Yet that is the norm, even for very complex problems. Contrary to how most of us think about making a decision as being the act of choosing, a decision is the last piece of a long, almost completely invisible, process. The good news: it is possible to make the invisible part of decisions visible.
In working with the Community Justice Advisor Program in Liberia, Africa, Lorien and colleagues helped The Carter Center (founded by Jimmy and Roslyn Carter) use decision models to increase positive outcomes in the domain of civil justice, by identifying the most effective levers for change.