Decision-Making: Is It True or Just a Matter of Opinion?

Wed, 2016-07-06 16:34 -- tomjonez

 

We are looking at a series of questions that allow us to ponder our decisions with a bit of forethought. While some leaders charge ahead with great temerity, it may do well for most of us to pause just long enough to ask a few questions before we execute on a decision that can affect those we lead - as well as ourselves.

This week’s question bears as much reflection as any that we have pondered in this series, namely, “Is it true or just a matter of opinion?” When pondering the factors that lead to a decision, this enquiry is almost singularly preeminent in the list of questions we could ask.

In our present world of extreme ethical flexibility, such a question may fall on deaf ears for many.  Yet the leader who has any sense of history – and who bears any desire toward carving out a legacy – will take the question quite seriously.

Certainly all one needs to do is enter a specific query into an online search engine in order to receive a stream of pages of opinions. However, doing so will merely suffice to prove that many people – make that anyone - can espouse a position on almost any topic. Yet the salient question is this: Is it true?

And that is why this question merits increasing consideration for one who is in leadership - in order that we might develop the pellucid discernment to assess whether a particular factor in making a decision is it actually true - or simply a matter of opinion…

 

Photo credit: Justin Luebke