I’m a big believer in making the most of what we have. There are so many things outside of our control, and so much uncertainty, we need to focus on focus.

We’ve given you the example on a number of occasions. If I go to the Greek diner on the corner, I might find a 30-page menu. If I go to The Dining Room at the Ritz Carlton, I might have 3 choices. If I ask you if you prefer vanilla or chocolate, you can decide. If I walk you into Baskin Robbins, the choice becomes harder. You might even want to sample a few before deciding.

Hick’s Law says the more choices we have, the harder it is to make a decision and the more costly it becomes. By narrowing your playbook and reducing the number of decisions, you can enhance both the speed and effectiveness of your critical choices.

This is why we never offer a slate of candidates. It’s easier for the client to make a decision of yes or no for one candidate, than to make a prioritized decision about several candidates simultaneously.

When you have a new requirement, send one candidate. Michael just had a wonderful situation with a new client where he set the precedence. Once he had a single candidate ready to present, instead of doing a write up, he called the client and said (essentially), I got a guy, how does your schedule look? And was able to get the candidate scheduled without a write up.

It’s easy to make a decision one candidate at a time. Don’t over complicated your process and add unnecessary friction by presenting multiple candidates at once. Let’s let Hick’s Law work to our advantage.