Decision-making, in the interview
The WRAP framework: four checks against a bad decision
WRAP is four checks against the most common decision traps: Widen your options, Reality-test your assumptions, Attain distance before deciding, Prepare to be wrong. In an interview it is the answer to any question framed as either-or, because it makes you look for the third option first.
How does WRAP work?
- Widen your options: refuse the either-or and look for a third way, or for doing both.
- Reality-test your assumptions: look for evidence that would prove you wrong, and test small before betting big.
- Attain distance: picture the decision from outside, or from later, to cool the emotion of the moment.
- Prepare to be wrong: set the signal that would make you change course, and plan for it.
When does WRAP fit an interview question?
Use it when a question offers you two options, or when someone in the scenario pushes you hard: an executive who wants the data changed, a stakeholder who missed deadlines. It shows you can hold a position without turning it into a fight.
What does a strong answer with WRAP sound like?
Question: an influential executive wants a report changed in a way that contradicts your team's validated data. The deadline is tomorrow.
"The question frames it as yes or no, so first I widen it. I would acknowledge what they are trying to show, then lay out the cost of the change: what it takes from the team and the risk to the deadline and to accuracy. I would offer a third option, such as presenting both views with the data behind each, and ask them to own the trade-off between speed and accuracy."
Common mistakes
- Going through the four letters as a checklist instead of using the one the question needs.
- Widening the options and then not choosing one.
- Forgetting the last step: what would make you change your mind.
Where does WRAP come from?
Chip and Dan Heath set it out in their book "Decisive: How to Make Better Choices in Life and Work" (2013), drawing on research into confirmation bias, overconfidence and short-term emotion in decisions.
Practice with this framework
These problems from the free GCA practice set are best answered with WRAP. Pick the framework that fits each one, then read the worked answer.
2 questions, one at a time
Pick a pace. The timer stops when you check an answer, and the worked method opens straight away. Nothing is saved or sent anywhere.
Keys: 1 to 4 pick an option, Enter checks and moves on.
One question, two answers
A weak answer, why it scores low, and the strong one. Under a minute each.
The executive wants the data changed
WRAP: FAQ
What does WRAP stand for?
Widen your options, Reality-test your assumptions, Attain distance before deciding, and Prepare to be wrong. Each step counters a known bias: narrow framing, confirmation bias, short-term emotion and overconfidence.
Which WRAP step matters most in an interview?
Usually the first. Interviewers often frame a hypothetical as a choice between two options, and a candidate who finds a third, better option stands out.
The other decision frameworks
- Reversible vs irreversibleDecide fast when a choice can be undone, and slow down for the ones that cannot (Jeff Bezos' one-way and two-way doors).
- Regret minimizationAsk which you would regret more in the long run: doing it, or not doing it (Jeff Bezos).
- CynefinFirst name the situation: clear, complicated, complex or chaotic. In a crisis, act first; in a complicated case, analyze first (Dave Snowden).
- Expected valueWeigh each outcome by its odds: the chance of a gain times its size, minus the chance of a loss times its size.
- Pre-mortemImagine the plan has already failed, list why, and build the defenses in now (Gary Klein).
- 10/10/10Ask how the choice will look in 10 minutes, 10 months and 10 years (Suzy Welch).
- The 70% ruleDecide once you have about 70% of the information you wish you had, then adjust as you learn (Jeff Bezos).
- OODA loopObserve, orient, decide, act, and loop again faster than the situation changes (John Boyd).