How to see the leader in you?
What do business leaders and budding entrepreneurs have in common?
They all make decisions about their business.
Period.
The world is hardwired to praise, or not, the decision-making of business leaders. That’s because their decision impacts lives on a greater scale.
But the scale of impact shouldn’t make a decision-making process praiseworthy.
Because every decision-making is tough. No matter the scale or who is making it. When an individual is making a decision she/he is facing a tough situation.
Why?
Here is what Author Carole Hildebrand says about making decisions:
“Most of us have weak decision-making muscles. We do not realize what it means to make a real decision. We fail to recognize the force of change that a truly congruent, committed decision makes.”
Having weak muscles makes it hard to do physical activities. It is the same case with decision-making because most of us have weak decision-making muscles
The thing is that human beings do not like to face hardship. Who wants to leave that bed and go for a long jog? Who wants to work 14–15 hours a day 6 days a week to build a business?
Few.
Anything hard gets short-changed or bypassed.
It is similar in the case of decision-making.
Most fail because they want to avoid decision-making. They do not make decisions out of choice. But out of compulsion.
Especially when decision-making involves money and time.
Let’s take the case of entrepreneurship.
Must I subscribe to the inventory planning software for $50/month? Must I outsource a part of my work? Must I invest half of what’s left in the bank to start a business? Must we upgrade to bigger office space?
Notice that we are making decisions all the time. Small or big. In whichever way you define them,
And each of those decision-making processes is tough. No matter the scale of the business.
So all those entrepreneurs, making decisions, you are doing a commendable job.
Decision-making means eliminating:
The word “decision” has Latin roots.
‘De’ means “down” or “away from”.
And caedere means “to cut.”
So, a decision means cutting from various possibilities.
A real decision means you are committed to achieving a result. Which also means cutting yourself off from other possibilities.
It means losing a few friends.
It means hanging out less and spending that time building your business.
It means head-burn and heartburn.
But above all, it means progressing on your commitments.
In the end, the elimination would pay off. It would lead to the inclusion of new possibilities.
But at its core, decision-making of any kind is not easy.
So either in established or new businesses, everyone’s effort toward decision-making is praiseworthy.
Decision-making is an act of sacrifice only the person who is making it understands.
We are all judged by our results.
To what extent have we managed to scale the business? What’s the revenue? Why we are still a 2 member team?
It is easy to question the results. But questioning the results leads to forgetting about the effort.
No one will know the sacrifice you made when you pulled out that last few dollars to pay your staff. You didn’t invest that month.
No one will know how as a leader, you maintain a cash balance to keep the business operational.
Commitment requires sacrifice.
So entrepreneurs of all scales sacrifice. They sacrifice any other pleasures that distract them from their goals.
That takes courage.
Sacrifice and the Courage to make a decision is the hallmark of leadership.
So whether you are leading an established business or getting started, you are a leader.
And as a leader, your courage to take decisions is praiseworthy.
Decision-making is powerful as it leads to action
When you decided to start your business from the garage you showed courage. It took you months of work. Planning, discussions, and mindset development to take that final decision.
When you quit a job with an established firm and took a 30% salary cut to design a business, you showed courage.
Consider the case of my mentee from Kenya.
She had a full-time job as an office staff in an NGO. But she wanted to work towards improving the lives of the teenage women in her village. She took the plunge after a year of undergoing mentoring.
Ask me about that year of decision-making and preparation and I will tell you how tough it was for her.
In the end, courage prevailed.
Why?
When you muster the courage to decide to take the plunge you send a signal to yourself. That you are willing to take action.
Taking action is scary but rewarding.
It took me almost a year before I pitched my profile for mentoring. My first few mentees never showed up after the first interaction. I felt discouraged. Yet I doubled down my effort.
I took the time to understand my mistakes and course-corrected them.
I redesigned the curriculum to make it more relevant and comprehensible.
I also decided not to mentor individuals that failed to do the tasks.
I enjoyed mentoring. So I decided to make it work.
Decision-making is a lonely game.
Think of it this way.
Not all kingdoms are of the same size. But the king of any empire must go through the same process to make a decision. They would have to gather all the facts. Listen to the advisors. Take the hopes, fears, aspirations and expectations of its people into consideration before making a decision.
That takes courage.
Similarly,
Small or big, established or not, entrepreneurs of all scales are equally courageous. Because they are the kings of their own empires.
No matter the size.
