Tough Calls How to Move Beyond Indecision and Good Intentions

As my clients began to emerge from the global economic turmoil that began in 2008, they indicated they had learned numerous lessons—the most important one: When leaders make good decisions, little else matters. When they refuse to make decisions, or show a pattern of making bad ones, nothing else matters. As I helped these leaders position themselves for the new economy, I began to see what others didn’t see. Something was standing in their way—usually the unwillingness or inability to make a critical decision. In many cases, they thought they needed more—more education, more experience, more time, or more data. They didn’t realize they had enough of these, but they did lack the confidence, courage, and optimism to make the tough call. Through our work together, the most successful leaders realized they could no longer push growth. Instead, they had to remove barriers to success, and usually these barriers were of their own making. They needed to understand how to leverage their strengths and remove their blind spots to move beyond what they thought possible. These compelling stories and surprising research findings in this book focus on real people who actively sought professional improvement and personal development. Working together, we mapped out their journeys, identified the key roadblocks they faced, recognized the wrong turns they had taken, and unlocked their decision-making potential—all the while navigating an increasingly uncertain world, and in some cases, more than doubling the size of their companies. Readers will discover that there’s much more to decision-making than they ever imagined. They will come away with tools to help them deepen their understanding of what it takes to make tough calls and an understanding of how to inspire others to do the same. Most of these stories illustrate how and why these leaders succeed, but others serve as warnings about what can happen when leaders refuse to decide. Keywords decision-making, problem-solving, culture, strategy, espoused beliefs, operating beliefs, self-esteem, optimism, high potentials, humor, trust, persuasion, brainwashing, influence, ethics, organizational judgment, change, motivatio