The Burdens Of Decision-Making
You are making this way too hard… and you just might hate yourself in the morning.
In 1944, Bugs Bunny devised this torture devise — first for the Big Bad Wolf and later for Little Red Riding Hood. It is silly, comical, and ludicrous — yet everyday executives around the world find themselves in a similar predicament. Let’s use a little more comic inspiration to define the harsh reality of executive life.
You Are Only Really Good At One Thing
Some time back it was popular for career coaches to ask people to define their superpower. The idea became sticky for all the reasons things like this do. Not least of which is the truth of the idea. You are really good at one thing and your success and career are likely predicated on doing that as often and well as possible. The more you focus, the better off you will be. Yet executives always find themselves in endless multitasking and with endless priorities.
If You Want Something Done Right, You Have To Do It Yourself
This phrase has become quite popular. It is completely wrong on at least one count and likely two. Charles-Guillaume Étienne penned these words in a French comedy from 1807, only the translation is completely wrong. The actually translation is “One is never served so well as by oneself.” The latter phrase may be no more true than the prior… this was a comedy after all.
If you adhere to this sort of thinking, you will always find your priority list longer than you can handle, your focus shorter than it needs to be, and will never get to your “one thing”. Delegation is critical. Focus is critical. Micromanagement and do-it-yourself mentalities are mindsets for artists not leaders.
The US Military
Believe it or not, the US Military has an incredible sense of humor — if not a great sense of acronyms. They are quite adept at recognizing a bad situation and inventing yet one more colorful acronym to describe it.
They are actually fairly good at understanding route cause, if not at avoiding them. Despite some of their better acronym work, KISS — Keep It Simple Stupid hasn’t prevented plenty of additional SNAFUs & FUBARs. It is still sound logic regardless. An executive juggling dozens of priorities is bound to over complicate things, then predictably TARFU. It is a recipe for repeated disaster — in military slang BOHICA. Executives need to simplify.
Trust Me, I Know What I Am Doing.
Sledge Hammer was a short lived sitcom from the 80’s that featured this catchphrase. The refrain is quite simple — no, you really don’t. Don’t let this bruise your ego or you too may not make it beyond season two.
If you are juggling a dozen or more priorities, doing too much yourself, and over complicating things — how in the world can you know what you are doing? It is not humanly possible. Even if this is your one superpower — how do you have time to do all of it well? There just aren’t enough hours in the day. And don’t tell me that is your super power, you only get one.
Men Won’t Ask Directions & Women Can’t Read Maps
If that is really true, society may be doomed. There is definitely truth in the stereotypes, but you can drop the gender thing entirely — this isn’t a battle of the sexes. It is the nature of strong-willed people — aka executives. Simply put — many executives stop taking direction.
Many executives don’t want to remove the heavy burdens of decision-making. Or better stated, they believe that decision-making is their burden to bare. It is poor analytics. The burden of an executive is better stated as making sure good decisions are made. It is a burden that is neither so large or complicated as what we have described above — as long as you are willing to ask for help AND read a map.
TO BE CONTINUED… thanks for reading!
For help with decision-making:
