As business leaders, we are faced with dozens of decisions daily … many of them are difficult decisions. In fact, this problem is so prevalent that there are hundreds and hundreds of books written on the subject of leadership decision making, approaches, and philosophies.
Surely you’re familiar with several of the following popular approaches.
“Eat the Frog” is a popular quip that focuses leaders on avoiding decision fatigue by tackling the hardest decisions early in the day. The idea is that you get the difficult stuff out of the way first to free up your mental energy for the rest of the day. If you delay the difficult decisions and tasks to the end of the day, they tend to suck your energy throughout the entire day, even if not intentionally.
Another popular approach is imagine that you’re helping someone else make the decision. It forces you to step outside of your internal thought process and take a third party view. It’s a type of “brain hacking” that enables you to take different perspectives on the problem or decision at hand. Some say: “Focus inward. Focus Outward. Focus Upward.”
Some leaders like to apply 2×2 thinking, taken from The Power of the 2×2 Matrix. Essentially, it’s an X-Y axis (think back to Algebra I) with variables plotted along each axis to help you visualize conflicting goals, like quality v. speed, time v. money, or risk v. reward.
The three approaches above are useful techniques, without a doubt.
However, we stumbled on a gem that’s something of a magic wand for pure decision clarity no matter how challenging the decision. Introduced in a Business Made Simple video by Donald Miller (admittedly borrowed from his friend, Doug Keim), the approach is so simple it really makes you step back and say, “Wow – why didn’t I think of that?”
Miller challenges you to complete the following simple sentences:
The unfortunate truth about the situation is ____________.
Therefore the right action to take is ___________.
Whether you are facing difficult decisions about clients, team members, or other issues, completing these two sentences provides powerful clarity and eliminates confusion. He calls it, “the one sentence that brings instant clarity.”
Check it out in the short (2 min) video below and let us what you thing of this approach!
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This is a simple, yet powerful, idea brought to the table by one of LXCouncil CEOs. If you’re ready to take your business and leadership skills to the next level, and if you think your business could benefit from the experienced counsel of other business leaders and CEOs, let’s start a conversation. LXCouncil may be the perfect next step!
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