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Issue
44: March 18, 2005
To our readers:
If you’ve ever made a decision under the pressure of the moment that came back to haunt you, you might wish you could be more like President Harry Truman, who said, “Once a decision was made, I did not worry about it afterward.” Memoirs [1955].
You can take a step in that enviable direction by avoiding “ambush-based” judgments and opinions. “Ambush-based” judgments are the ones you make right now, based on an incomplete understanding of a subject, because someone is waiting for your response – whether standing in front of you, waiting for an e-mail, or on the other end of the telephone waiting while you “think.”
Don’t succumb to the ambush. If you find yourself struggling to come up with an answer, if your mind is full of questions and not answers, if it’s a new spin or a new subject and you haven’t considered it before, you need to recognize it as an ambush and put off sharing an opinion. This doesn’t mean the other person intends to ambush you; it means only that you’re not prepared to answer intelligently.
Sometimes circumstances require you to make quick decisions, and the ability to decide quickly when you have to is a sign of a good leader. If you generally listen well and take in all possible facts, you will be better prepared to make those quick decisions when you must. (For an illuminating tour of this subject, see Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking, by Malcolm Gladwell, author of the best-selling The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference.)
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Another sign of a good leader is recognizing when you don’t have to make a snap decision and giving yourself time to gather the information necessary to make the best decision possible.
Four Tips for Making Decisions You Don’t Worry About Afterward:
1. If you haven’t determined your opinion or made a decision before someone asks for it, don’t provide one immediately unless circumstances require it.
With few exceptions, you don’t have to state your opinion or make a decision immediately. In the absence of an emergency or other genuine time constraint, resist the pressure to respond on the spot. Be prepared with some stock phrases such as “I need to think about that. Let me get back to you,” or “I need to look into that.”
2. Let go of the fear of looking uninformed.
If you feel pressured to say something immediately, you are probably worried about looking unprepared, uninformed, or timid. The fact is, you are anything but timid when you say you will gather more information before making a decision. That is your decision for the time-being.
With few exceptions, you don’t have to state your opinion or make a decision immediately. In the absence of an emergency or other genuine time constraint, resist the pressure to respond on the spot. Be prepared with some stock phrases such as “I need to think about that. Let me get back to you,” or “I need to look into that.”
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3. Now listen, to yourself and to others.
Gather information from all necessary sources and let your thoughts jell. Consider consequences, alternatives, and other points of view. Let the suggestions and opinions of others sink in. Give yourself an opportunity to see the big picture, which often takes more than five or 10 minutes, or even a few hours. It might take days. You don’t have to spend all your time thinking about the subject at hand—your thoughts will be working together in your subconscious mind while you go about your other business. As ideas come to you, write them down so you don’t have to worry about forgetting them in the process of focusing on another project.
4. When you’ve completed your due diligence, share your decision.
There will almost always come a moment, in a reasonable span of time, when you have come to a decision or developed an opinion you feel good about. Now you can make a decision and share your opinion with confidence. If it turns out you’re wrong, you’ll know you did all you could to avoid that result.
It’s too easy to rush into a decision in an effort to appear in control and decisive, and rushed decisions can be disastrous. Be decisive, instead, in taking time to investigate a subject so you can treat it more knowledgeably.
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