The Executive Appeal, Episode 239

Most leaders do not have a decision problem. They have a movement problem. A decision already made but never acted on costs the organization every single day, quietly, with no bill attached and no one calling it out.

What you will hear in this episode:

- To decide comes from the Latin roots meaning "to cut off." If other options are still alive in your head, you have a preference, not a decision, and a preference moves nothing.

- Waiting looks like responsibility. Nobody pushes back on it, the cost is invisible, and most organizations have no structure to catch a decision once it is made, no owner, no start date, no check date.

- The best decisions come from data. Data comes from action. Sitting longer runs the same variables through your head again. Moving puts you in contact with the real world, which tells you what is true and what was imaginary.

- Don Christianson's father named it plainly: "You procrastinate decisions that you've already made." The mind was made up. The cut just never happened.

- When you sit on a decision, your team notices. They do not think you are being thoughtful. They think the decision was not real, or they wait to see. They set their speed based on what you do after you decide, not on what you say.

- Before the end of today: pick one decision you are already sure about, write it in one sentence, name what you are cutting off, name the first physical step and who owns it, set a check date, and tell one person out loud.

If you want to see where this pattern and others like it are showing up in your own organization, the 14-Day Executive Leadership Diagnostic is built for exactly that. It shows you where your leadership is stuck and produces a 90-day plan you work through with support. You can learn more and see if it is a fit at https://gpsleadership.org/scorecard/