Leadership is About Decision Making

Summary

The video script emphasizes the critical role of decision-making in leadership, highlighting the importance of making the right call despite limited information. It illustrates the consequences of indecision and bad decisions on organizations and individuals. The speaker introduces the concept of the '10x performer,' urging leaders to excel beyond average performance. The script sets a high standard for CEOs, stating that making 95 correct decisions out of 100 daily is essential to avoid being fired, underscoring the necessity for courage and skill in navigating complex paths to success.

Takeaways

• 📊 Decision-making is the most important job of a leader.
• 🤔 Indecision leads to more meetings and can result in politics and inefficiency.
• ⚖️ Leaders' decisions often impact many people and organizations, not just themselves.
• 🛣️ Today's decision-making environment is more complex and requires quick, accurate decisions.
• 💼 Failure to make timely and correct decisions can result in severe consequences like company failure or unemployment.
• 🏆 Professional environments demand high performance and results; average performance is no longer sufficient.
• 🔢 The formula for success involves mastering a technical craft and excelling in decision-making.
• 💪 A new norm in talent is the expectation of 10x performance.
• ⚠️ If either technical craft or decision-making ability is lacking, overall performance will suffer.
• 🚀 CEOs are expected to make around 100 decisions daily, with a high accuracy rate necessary to maintain their position.

Q & A

What is the primary job of a leader according to the script?

The primary job of a leader is to make the right call in decision-making.

What common issue in decision-making is highlighted in the script?

Indecision is a common issue, leading to more meetings and resulting in delays and inefficiencies.

How does indecision affect organizations, according to the script?

Indecision leads to more meetings, politics, angling, and overall inefficiency, ultimately having a negative impact on the organization over time.

What qualities are essential for decision-making as per the script?

Courage and the ability to make informed decisions with limited information (5% information) are essential qualities for decision-making.

Why is decision-making described as navigating in the script?

Decision-making is like navigating because leaders need to guide their team or company through complex and fast-changing situations to achieve their goals.

What are the consequences of poor decision-making for companies and individuals?

Poor decision-making can lead to the failure of companies, loss of jobs, and the shutdown of organizations.

How is performance measured in the context of decision-making?

Performance is measured by the ability to make the right calls quickly and effectively, with the new norm being 10x performance.

What does the script suggest about the importance of mastering one's craft?

Mastering one's technical craft is important, but it must be combined with effective decision-making to achieve high performance.

What is the '10x performer' norm mentioned in the script?

The '10x performer' norm refers to the expectation that individuals should perform at ten times the average level to succeed and advance in their careers.

What is the threshold for decision-making accuracy for CEOs according to the script?

CEOs are expected to make around 100 decisions a day, with an A+ CEO needing to get 95 of those decisions correct. If a CEO makes 15 wrong decisions a day, they should be fired.

What is implied about the role of decision-making in leadership effectiveness?

Effective decision-making is crucial for leadership success, as it directly impacts the organization's performance and sustainability.

Outlines

00:00

🚩 The Crucial Role of Decision-Making in Leadership

The paragraph emphasizes the importance of decision-making as the primary responsibility of a leader. It discusses the negative consequences of indecision, such as excessive meetings and internal politics, and the necessity for leaders to be courageous and make informed decisions even with limited information. The text also highlights the impact of a leader's decisions on others, including an entire company, and the high stakes involved in making the right calls in a rapidly changing environment. The metaphor of navigating a bus through a complex road is used to illustrate the pressure and responsibility leaders face.

Keywords

💡Leadership

Leadership refers to the ability to guide and influence others towards achieving a common goal. In the video, leadership is portrayed as a crucial role that involves making critical decisions, navigating challenges, and driving performance. Effective leadership is linked to making the right decisions and avoiding indecision, which can lead to negative outcomes like excessive meetings and organizational politics.

💡Decision-making

Decision-making is the process of making choices by identifying a decision, gathering information, and assessing alternative resolutions. The video emphasizes that decision-making is the most important job of a leader, requiring courage and the ability to act with limited information. Good decision-making is vital for navigating complex situations and achieving successful outcomes.

💡Indecision

Indecision refers to the inability to make a decision quickly. The video describes how indecision leads to more meetings, politics, and delays, ultimately causing harm to organizations. It highlights that leaders must avoid indecision to maintain momentum and achieve timely results.

💡10x Performer

A 10x performer is someone who delivers results that are ten times greater than the average. The video mentions that the new norm in talent is performance at 10x, implying that merely average performance is no longer sufficient. High-performing individuals and teams are essential for organizational success and innovation.

💡Craft

Craft refers to the specialized skills and expertise that employees develop over time in their respective fields. The video explains that mastering one's craft is crucial but must be combined with effective decision-making to achieve exceptional performance. Without decision-making skills, even highly skilled individuals can fail to deliver results.

💡Performance

Performance is the act of executing tasks and achieving results. The video stresses that in a professional context, performance and results are what matter most. Leaders and employees are expected to perform at high levels to meet the increasing demands and complexities of their roles.

💡Courage

Courage in decision-making involves the willingness to make difficult choices despite uncertainty and potential risks. The video underscores the necessity of courage for leaders, as they often have to make decisions with incomplete information and adjust their actions as needed.

💡Navigation

Navigation in this context refers to guiding an organization or team through complex and changing environments. The video uses the metaphor of navigating difficult roads to illustrate the challenges leaders face in making timely decisions and steering their organizations towards success.

💡Pressure

Pressure refers to the stress and demands placed on leaders to make the right decisions quickly. The video highlights that leaders operate under significant pressure, as their decisions impact not only themselves but also their teams, organizations, and stakeholders.

💡Zero

Zero in the context of the video represents the outcome of having either no craft or poor decision-making skills. The video explains that if one element in the performance equation (craft or decision-making) is zero, the overall performance will be zero, emphasizing the importance of balancing both aspects for success.

Highlights

The number one job of a leader is to make the right call in decision-making.

Indecision leads to more meetings, politics, and complications.

Decision-making is the single most important job of a leader.

Bad decisions, including indecision, have a price to pay over time.

Good decision-making often involves being smart and brave.

Leaders must make decisions with limited information and be ready to adjust.

The current environment requires leaders to navigate complex and changing roads.

Failure to make timely decisions can result in severe consequences for organizations.

In the professional world, performance and results matter significantly.

The expectation today is a performance level of 10x; average performance is not sufficient.

Both technical craft and decision-making are crucial for high performance.

If either technical craft or decision-making is lacking, performance will suffer.

CEOs are expected to make 100 decisions a day and get 95% of them right to be considered excellent.

Making 15 wrong decisions a day can lead to being fired as a CEO.

Even not making a decision is a decision in itself.

Transcripts

we think about leadership we think about

the number one job of a leader it is to

make the right call decision-making and

I'm sure you're you're plagued and have

probably seen than part of all tons of

bad decisions

now that might show up in a sense of

indecision which probably is the more

common thing indecision leads to more

meetings right why don't we make a list

of follow ups and have another meeting

about the meeting and you have meetings

and meetings and meetings and then you

have politics that come in then you have

angling and you have everything you

could imagine decision-making is the

single most important job of a leader

and when they make it bad which usually

includes in decisions there's a price to

pay just shows up over time and when you

see people who make decisions well

usually words like that was really smart

that was really brave now at the point

of decision-making you have to be

courageous you have to take 5%

information and still make the right

call and then adjust those calls and

what's interesting about decision-making

today we love this graphic of the road

here in the upper right decision-making

is navigating you can navigate your own

life but you can navigate an entire bus

of people an entire company of people

your decisions as a leader oftentimes

impact more than yourself which I know

this group is very aware of except the

problem is the roads have changed and

the roads today look like that and you

have to go from the very bottom left to

the bottom right really fast in a timely

manner and if you don't you lose and

losing is not an option

losing is its death to companies death

to families unemployment organization

shutting down so under incredible

pressure and stress we're not talking

about an amateur sport thank you for

coming are you happy are you feeling

good I want you to drive where I take

your time just as long as you're driving

I'm happy now it's not about that this

is a professional sport performance and

results matter and you need to make the

right calls to navigate from one end to

another end and the bar is getting

higher and higher in the roads getting

more and more complicated

that's decision making that has to be

done right now

a very simple formula craft the craft

for a lot of our employees is

engineering some peeling things it's

sales account management it could be

project planning

you name your craft there's a technical

craft at some point somebody will master

over time and get better and better at

you multiply that craft by decision

making and then the new norm today in

talent is what we call the 10x performer

performance at 10x is the norm now if

you just do average you do okay I hate

to tell you you're not going to get

promoted you're not going to go far and

in fact you might actually get let go

that's the way the world works 10x is

the new norm and there's more and more

stories of this one individual who

brought a team who brought a company to

heroics of all sorts measured in every

metric you want to measure but what's

interesting about a formula that has a

multiplier is if one of the two is zero

your performance will be zero if you

have no craft and all you're doing is

decision making you will get a zero if

you have craft which is actually much

more common but you don't know how to

make decisions and you make too many bad

decisions now I'm not talking about

every decision you make is bad so the

question is what makes a zero so I'll

give you the bar they give CEOs of

companies and now not everyone's a CEO

but you probably have equal strength and

decision-making power depending on the

the size of the orders issue make

control they say for CEO is an average

CEO makes a hundred decisions a day

every day even the simple acknowledgment

non-response is a decision a hundred a

day if you want to be an A+ CEO you have

to get 95 correct consistently you can

get 5 wrong a day if you get 15 wrong a

day on average you should be fired there

is no room for be CEOs 15 wrong

decisions and you should be fired from

your post meaning that's what they call

a zero the standard is that high

out of a hundred decisions a day you

only get to make five wrong if you were

to be an a CEO and if you want to get

fired just add 10 more most of you don't

want to make decisions well that's a

decision too