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Guests: Sheldon Harris, Jay Reid, Nathan Mersereau
Episode in a Tweet: Today’s guests share proven ways to help leaders make better and more profitable executive decisions.
Quick Background: The success of your business depends on the quality of your decisions. Simply relying on your gut instincts may work occasionally, but the most effective leaders have specific strategies and tools they use to make important decisions. In today’s show, three proven leaders share their perspective on how to make better executive-level decisions so you can increase your profits and rise above the competition.
Transcript: Download the full transcript here.
Key Insights:
Making Smarter Executive Decisions
1. If as a leader you’re trying to make a decision and you’re expecting certainty before you move, you’re going to get run over. If I can get to 60 – 70% confidence level in favor of the decision, I’m going to make that decision. Sheldon Harris
2. While your gut is an important voice, it should just be one of the voices that’s helping guide your decision making process. Sheldon Harris
3. Before making a crucial decision, ask these two questions. First, what’s the worst-case scenario if this doesn’t work? Second, if it’s a decision related to a competitor, ask, how would I feel if my competitor made this decision and got there before me? Sheldon Harris
4. The most successful entrepreneurs and CEOs I know are the ones who are constantly asking for input. The ones who seem to struggle the most are the ones who always sit back and think they’ve got it all figured out and they’re not looking for anybody’s advice. Jay Reid
5. Once you make that decision, once you make that call, you need to move forward and everybody needs to move forward in unison. Even people who may not 100% agree with that call are going to have to fall in line for the good of the company. Jay Reid
6. When narrowing down candidates to hire for a key position, ask yourself, would I want to spend a day in a canoe with this person? Compatibility is critical for your team and this question helps you determine cultural fit. Nathan Mersereau
7. You can also ask the “canoe question” for an existing employee to determine if they should remain on your team. Nathan Mersereau
Coaching Takeaways:
1. When you have gathered the data, sought the counsel of your key team members, and reached a 60 – 70% confidence level in favor of the decision, make that decision and aggressively move forward.
2. Asking yourself these three questions can improve the outcome of your decision-making. One, what’s the worst-case scenario if this doesn’t work? Two, if it’s a question related to a competitor, ask, how would I feel if my competitor made this decision and got there before me? Three, when narrowing down candidates to hire for a key position, ask yourself, would I want to spend a day in a canoe with this person?
3. Once a key decision is made, your entire executive team needs to get behind it (even if they disagreed with it) and you need to periodically “check in” on the decision to make sure it’s working as expected.
Transcript: Download the full transcript here.
