202104291526 Make the hard decisions

Possibly one of the most important tasks for a leader is to make the hard decisions. Leaders collect information from a wide area of context and take on the risk of setting the direction based on that information.

Experience has taught me that generally a decisive boss is better than a waffling one — you know where you stand and can get on with the work that needs to be done!¹

It's particularly easy to give in to 202109090909 Decision paralysis when facing a hard decision.

[Remember that] the decision you made is entirely yours, and while the work preceding a hard decision can feel like an immense and endless chore, decisions and their subsequent consequences are, in fact, a privilege of leadership.²

Making the hard decisions comes at a heavy cost and the ultimate responsibility for these decisions rests on our shoulders. Sometimes this means that we need to shut up and own the bad results. How we 202104292040 Eat the losses is critical for setting the cultural tone for your team.

Another pitfall of making the hard decisions is getting an inflated sense of ego about our importance. Just because we're responsible for collecting information and setting a direction does not mean that we're the sole arbiter of what is right. We must remember that 202104291947 Our purpose as leaders is to serve others.