1 QUOTE

"Pray that the Lord your God may show us the way we should go, and the thing that we should do.”

- Jeremiah 42:3

1 NOTE

When was the last time you made a life-changing decision? It continues to amaze me that everyone of us is one major decision from an entirely different life. Since 2007, Becky and I have used the Dr. J. Robert Clinton decision making tool to ‘know the will of God’ in our major decisions. We use this with every person in our ministry. You can download this tool here.

This also rings true in our leadership. No matter our sphere of influence we will be confronted with the adventurous, agonizing, exhilarating and down-right scary experience of making a major decision. The impact of those decisions will determine how our leadership will be remembered. Dr. Stephen Sample offers two nuggets of when and how wisdom in our leadership decisions: (1) Never make a decision today that can put off until tomorrow; (2) Never make a decision that can be reasonably delegated to a lieutenant.

The first question a leader must ask in pick-a-path moments is “How much time do I have to decide?” Just today I had a great conversation with my friends Eric and Elaine Lu. We discussed decisions and deadlines. We marveled at how many deadlines were actually self-imposed. On our current project we committed to thinking gray. We mused that no one will remember the release date of our project. But everyone will remember if our project was wrong. Elaine summed it up best, “Internal deadlines cause so much unnecessary stress!”

Regarding how to make decisions, Sample argues that the vast majority of our leadership decisions can be delegated to younger leaders. Decisions are the true test of the training of those we lead. Just because a senior leader has the authority to make a decision, this does not mean they should. I love Sample’s personal mantra with delegated decisions. Sample communicated clearly to those he lead, in word and action, that if the decision was right and celebrated, the lieutenant would get the credit. And if the decision was wrong and criticized, they would learn together, and Sample would take the smoke. How else will our younger leaders grow? This is the essence of major league leadership!

1 QUESTION

In your sphere of influence, do you have a clear process for making big decisions?

Until Next Tuesday,

John