Skip to main content

"Hey Phil, Is Slow Decision Making Costing Us Money? I Can't Decide."

In an era of information on demand, decision-making tools are more available than ever. Of course, as technology increases and is implemented sooner and with more efficiency, information will be even more readily available. According to CIO Magazine, information is the leading tool for quality decisions. So why do folks still take forever to make up their minds?

The Harvard Business Review has some ideas. It is about fear of change. Correction - fear of being different. In most cases, decisions take longer, far longer, than they need to because the decision-maker is afraid of stepping outside the lines of what is currently being done by the industry, by the company, by the world....

Those organizations that are unafraid of failure make decisions quickly, bring products to the market first, and are on the leading edge of profitability. They know they will fail. They move forward with the understanding that risk equals reward in spite of the obvious risk of failure. They do not focus on the opposite of what they hope to accomplish. It only takes a few rewards to achieve great success and it takes a lot of failures to arrive at demise.

You know your industry, your organization, and your people. Use your instincts and your knowledge to create belief and trust within all three areas. You probably already have all the information you need. Go, make a decision!


Popular posts from this blog

Recommended Reading

I support literacy (no revelation there, not that many are against it) and would like to share some good books with points of view about the world at large. The first in the series is... Dry by Augusten Burrows. A truly witty, and thus endearingly honest, memoir of an advertising guru's journey into and through sobriety, friendship, and mortality. It seems real enough to pass for autobiographical .
Read more

List Of Convenient Excuses To Avoid Change

1. "That will never work." 2. "That said, the labor laws make it difficult for us to do a lot of the suggestions you put out. And we do live in a lawsuit oriented society." 3. "Can you show me some research that demonstrates that this will work?" 4. "Well, if you had some real-world experience, then you would understand." 5. "I don't think our customers will go for that, and without them we'd never be able to afford to try this." 6. "It's fantastic, but the salesforce won't like it." 7. "The salesforce is willing to give it a try, but [insert major retailer/corporation/partner here] won't stock it." 8. "There are government regulations and this won't be permitted." 9. "Well, this might work for other people, but I think we'll stick with what we've got." 10. "Our team doesn't have the technical chops to do this." 11. "Maybe in the next b...
Read more

The... OUCH... Hard... YIKES... Way...

I learned an important lesson today. Starting in the middle of a concept and talking about it to the end makes you sound really smart, if not so smart that the concept can zoom right over your audience's head. That can be a good thing... or a bad thing. When starting from an assumed position, whether it be philosophy or knowledge, you are going to come across as thoughtful or knowledgeable to your audience. This mostly happens because they are starting from a position of less experience. If you want to bowl someone over, start in the middle. Being overwhelmed by information and trying to fit pieces of it together to make sense of the last half of a story is tiring and confusing. Of course, this has its place. It is like walking into a primitive village with a lighter.... By the time you bite off the head of a snake and chug down the local beverage, everyone will be ready to listen when you shout, "Follow me!". Both religion and Ron Popeil have recruited millions t...
Read more