Decisiveness is Just as Important as Deliberation

To be effective, we must act decisively on decisions we disagree with. This may seem obvious, but it remains one of the most challenging tasks.

I have been aiming to discuss taking action and being decisive in two essays because there seems to be a belief that 'rationality' and mental models are all you need to succeed. Most influential people make better decisions and use thinking tools that assist them in achieving their goals more quickly.

Decision experiments do not need to model time sensitivity, so most decision-making frameworks do not consider time selection. Therefore, the value of taking action earlier is often obscured by uncertainty. Your decisiveness may influence the utility of each choice in real life. Ultimately, I realized I knew what needed to be done but didn't want t... See more

As long as organizational issues go unresolved, you end up with a culture of underperformance throughout your whole organization if you don't fire one likable underperformer. Competent employees leave — they don't want more work. Less competent employees stay. The company remains likable for years to come. It is much more difficult to change the cu... See more

Because this happened to me — and I knew better — I think you need to remember it! You'll have to fire under-performers to retain good people on your team. You will find it difficult to fire under-performers until you have to. We don't like uncomfortable things. It will be extremely difficult for you."After leaving the company a year later, a subor... See more

Popular belief holds that making the right decision is the most challenging part. I have found that making a decision you don't want to make is the most challenging part of the process. You can terminate your subordinate, quit your job, lay off a quarter of your employees, and break up with your partner if things don't seem to go well.