3 Reasons why you should decide early

There are many things that make someone a great leader, and decision making is inevitably very high up that list.

When I talk about making a decision, I mean choosing one path to travel down and cutting off all the other options. Some people argue with that mentality, saying that it is good to keep options open. Here are the three main reasons why I stand by my theory:

1) Solution providing vs ‘Oh no, we have a problem’

Knowing that you are going to be making a definite decision about your plan of action means that you become a lot more focussed on what you can do to add / get benefit, rather than focussing on the ‘problem / issue’ itself. This allows you to be on the front foot and fully in control of your immediate destiny.

2) Ability to deliver with passion and certainty

When a decision has been made, it is clear for everyone involved what their course of action needs to be. Because they have this clarity, they are able to fully commit to and be passionate in the delivery of their role. When people lack the clarity, (even if the right actions are being made) the lack of decisiveness means they are likely to be laboured and / or hesitant in their delivery.

3) Lessons are learned

You cannot be scared of making wrong decisions as a leader; you have to accept that sometimes you are going to make decisions that people glorify you for, and sometimes you are going to make heinous errors of judgement. Failure and error are a big part of learning, progressing, and making bigger and better decisions moving forwards.

Make decisions. Get used to it. Small decisions like what to have for dinner, and big decisions like the best way to go to market with a new product; make the decision, commit to it completely, and learn from the results. Just like everything else in life, the more you do it, the better you’ll get.

Ignorance is bliss… BS!

A few times over the past couple of weeks, I have heard people use the saying ‘Ignorance is bliss’. This couldn’t be further from the truth though. Ignorance is pain.

I’m away playing for England at the World Cup Qualifiers at the moment, so let me start by using this as a example:

If we are ignorant about our opposition’s tactics, we will very quickly realise we are facing attacks that we are not ready for and have no defence plans for. Result: Pain.
If we are ignorant about our opposition’s players at an individual level, we will face a set of skills, habits, and techniques that we are not prepared for. Result: Pain.
There have been some rule changes for this tournament; being ignorant about those would mean that we would be breaking rules consistently, giving away possession, territory, and advantage to our opponents. It would also mean that we are not prepared to make the rule changes work in our favour. Result: Pain.

We do a serious amount of homework and scouting on our opposition to make sure we know as much as possible about our task in hand. Does it mean we use that information to change what we do? Not always. Sometimes, we gain understanding about our opposition and then play our normal way regardless… But at least it’s a tactical and strategic decision to do so, rather than naive ignorance.

Take this into the working world

Do you know as much as you could do about your opposition? Rival firms?
Do you know enough about the pricing strategies and competitive advantage others are offering?
Do you keep up to date with current legislation so you are always on the front foot in the market?

There are endless examples of where knowledge is vital.
Ignorance is not bliss; ignorance is pain.

Don’t suffer the fate of the lobster!

As I walked into my hotel shower last night, I felt a burn from the seemingly boiling water. However, the temp was set the same as the beautiful shower I had earlier that day. Why the different reaction? Earlier in the day, I had increased the heat gradually. Ahhhhh!

This led me to two thoughts:

i) If you put yourself in too much heat too fast, you will burn. However, by gradually increasing the heat (difficulty), you can bare more and more as you become comfortable at each stage.

ii) A lobster who is in a pan of water that gradually increases in heat will be in boiling water before he knows it. And that doesn’t end well for the lobster!

Life is about increasing the heat that you can bare. It is about growth, progression, and development. So what can we do to make sure that we are able to increase the heat that stretches us, without becoming like the lobster that suffers a fate he was blind to?

1) Reflect on where you are right now.
Be constantly curious about your current state and situation. Are you in water that you can handle? Are you learning anything in this water or are you just in a state of ease and comfort? Do you actually want to be in this water?

2) Ask critical questions about your next steps.
If you’re the lobster, you can’t exactly ask anyone else how you can get out the pan, but you’re not a lobster so you have the ability to seek the help of people who can help you out of your current state into an even better one. You can also question yourself. Are you ready to increase the heat? How could you do it? To what level? What support do you need? What can you do to prepare for the extra heat?

3) Embrace the heat.
If you’ve decided that this pan is going to develop you instead of boiling you like a lobster, and you have been strategic in your planning and approach, it’s now time to know that the heat you’re facing / about to face will be great for you. Stagnation equals boredom and a lack of fulfilment. Embrace the heat, increase your threshold, and make the jump between where you are now and where you want to be.