Thirteen years ago he penned a book, still in print, called Value-Focused Thinking: A Path to Creative Decision-Making, which says that most corporate executives put the cart before the horse.

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This is a decision that he thinks is the right course, and he thinks that one of the reasons why he looked forward to speaking with the American people Monday night was to spell out his decision-making process and why he chose the path he chose -- because he thinks it has the best chance of producing the best result for the American people.

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However, startups are appearing that provide tools to inform and streamline such decision-making processes, such as Noodle.org, which helps people plot out their education path, factoring in money, interests and numerous other determinants.

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