Teacher

Burke Robinson has retired as a lecturer and consulting professor at Stanford University. Over 27 years in the Management Science and Engineering Department as well as the Sustainability Science and Practice Program, he taught a dozen undergraduate and graduate courses on decision analysis theory and applications. His most popular course, The Art and Science of Decision Making, was last taught in 2025.

When we make high-quality decisions, we improve the probability of outcomes we want.  By combining the art of qualitative framing and structuring with the science of quantitative assessment and analysis, we will have pragmatic ways to: identify those core issues driving the value of our decisions, craft an inspirational vision, create viable alternatives, mitigate biases in probabilistic information, clarify both tangible and intangible preferences, develop appropriate risk/reward models, evaluate decisions for a broad range of uncertain scenarios, appraise values of gathering additional information, and ensure commitment to implementation plans and budgets.

Common-sense rules and decision-making tools provide the essential focus, discipline, and passion we need for clarity of action on big, important decisions – from personal choices to organizational decisions about business strategies or public policies.  A normative approach prescribes how decisions can be made defensible using a logical basis of deliberative reasoning when we face a dynamic, complex, and uncertain future world. Transformational change can then implement the optimal decisions by following a dynamic process of project management. 

Dr. Robinson also has a long-standing interest in crisis decision making, a subject that appears increasingly relevant as unintended consequences occur more frequently in a rapidly changing world. His 1979 dissertation on Crisis Decision Analysis identified concepts, processes, and tools that still have relevance today for crisis leadership preparedness strategies and crisis management response tactics.