This morning I met with three people who each provide leadership in a very high-risk profession. Their decisions are often simply routine; at other more critical junctures their decisions can be life or death and require almost instantaneous judgment calls. We’re talking high-stress. Really high.
As we were discussing decision-making in the context of their leadership roles we landed on a situation which was, on the one-hand, routine. On the other hand, no matter how the decision rolled out, the outcome was certain to leave at least a few of the people impacted less than pleased. So, what to do?
We chatted about the fact that we cannot be either “people pleasers,” as discussed a few weeks ago (click here to read); nor can we operate on the basis of the “fear of man,” as also discussed previously (click here to read). We agreed that with some decisions leaders make, there is simply no way to have the outcome be pleasing to everyone.
Our conclusion?
When leading, we simply must make the best decision we can - based on the situation and the facts available to us - and then go forward to the next decision point we will face.
Like the famous Nike mantra “just do it,” there are indeed times when we must, “just decide.”