It's a matter of choice.(THE LAST LAUGH)

Hundreds of times each day, we must make a choice. It could be as simple as what to wear that day, what to have for breakfast or whether to walk or drive or bike or tube to work.

Then there's the serious choices, concerning jobs, partners, offspring, politics, dwelling space--or whether to eat that last piece of holiday chocolate.

As a journalist, I often find myself in the catbird seat, wondering how so many smart public people can make such apparently dumb choices, and waiting to record the inevitable negative fallout from them. Of course, outside observers like me by definition don't have all the facts, just those that others offer, usually in an attempt to skew the decision.

Many are paralyzed by indecision, waiting for perfection and not just making progress, expecting to make the right choice 100% of the time. Here are a few examples.

Will a woman be Harvard's new president?

Speculation is high that it could be a woman, one of two Harvard insiders who could heal the wounds festering from the abrasive and ill-considered comments by former President Larry Summers. He came in as an outsider, and never quite understood the academic culture.

Other news outlets have interviewed me--as editor of WIHE--on the importance of the choice, including National Public Radio and the student newspaper at the University of Pennsylvania. I've told them that The Corporation at Harvard is playing it close to the chest, although the political correctness of supposedly including two women on the short list of four is admirable.