In Honor of the Man Who Started My No Regrets Life: Professor Ron Howard
No Regrets and Transformation
I live a no regrets life thanks to Professor Ron Howard.
Everything started after I took Howard’s Decision Analysis 101 class at Stanford University in the first year of my graduate studies in Engineering-Economic Systems (now Management Science and Engineering (MS&E). I learned the basic yet fundamental premise that a decision’s quality comes from the information gathered and known at the time of the decision. Decision quality is not a function of the outcome. Thus, one should not regret a decision if due diligence was applied to the decision-making process.
This concept, the very idea that making a decision can be subject to science and analysis, blew my mind at the time. In that Decision Analysis class and its sequel, Howard single-handedly transformed the way I think. From that time forward, I would seek decision quality by using a structured framework that allows me to accept outcomes of decisions as the result of a probability distribution (whether known or unknown). With confidence in the process, I could harbor no regrets about the outcome. Instead, I focus on preparing to respond to the outcome however it materializes. Whether I earn a reward or whether I fail, outcomes are information for improving future decision-making processes.
In the next academic year, I was honored when Ron Howard was selected as one of the two professors for my PhD qualification process. I studied California’s water management through the lens of decision-making. While I never worked with Professor Howard again at Stanford, I remained deeply grateful for the intellectual transformation he brought to my life.
The Decision Education Foundation
Fast forward all the way to 2017. I was starting to think about what I wanted to do with the rest of my life. I had born witness to too many catastrophic failures in decision-making, and I wanted to help kids make better decisions. (Some adults in my life were too hardened to accept decision analysis as a discipline like I did!). That same year, Howard happened to present at the annual MS&E alumni networking brunch. Seeing him and his presentation smacked me up side the head! Of course! Ask Professor Howard how to proceed with teaching Decision Analysis!
I sent an email to Howard, and, much to my delight, he responded right away. I asked him for advice on how I should go about teaching Decision Analysis to kids. His simple answer: there is already an organization doing just that: the Decision Education Foundation (DEF).
Chris Spetzler, the DEF Executive Director, was gracious in accepting me into the fold. After a brief training session, I was trusted to teach at a Stanford international summer institute in 2018. DEF taught the decision analysis component of a program for international teens who were tasked with constructing the governance of their own imaginary island country. I taught two classes the following summer. Unfortunately, the pandemic disrupted the program. However, that rewarding teaching experience was exactly what I needed. Once again, I found myself deeply grateful to Professor Howard. I look forward to one day soon resuming this work.
Professor Ron Howard also retired in 2018. So when DEF sponsored a celebration in Howard’s honor, I absolutely had to attend. The leading graphic for this post came from that celebration and provided an excellent summary of Howard’s pioneering work. Even now, I review it in awe. I was so blessed and privileged to have learned from an intellectual giant who pioneered an entire field of study.
No Regrets In A Life Well Lived
Earlier this week I received an email from the Society of Decision Professionals (SDP) announcing that Professor Howard had passed away. I took a deep pause. I reflected back on how much I learned in the brief time I had with Howard. How much more could I have learned? I…yes…I almost regretted that the time was so brief in the grand scale of life. Then again, I had to appreciate that Professor Howard already planted all the seed that I was supposed to get given the goals I set out for myself, my career, and my life. I owe him the honor to continue forward confident in the knowledge that I am as prepared as I can be for life’s next decisions. I have no regrets thanks to Professor Howard.
You are deeply missed Professor Ron Howard!
