5 Tough decisions that will determine your success or failure as a leader

Most of the best leaders in the world are uniquely attuned to the 5 key decisions that change the fate of careers and organizations.
Here are some of the decisions that will make or break you as a leader.

1. Recognizing and responding to mistakes:

Great leaders are comfortable admitting they are wrong and need to change their actions.
The all-too-common lack of this moral courage perpetuates bad decisions and adversely impacts organizations, sometimes in a fateful or fatal way.
Not every decision, tactical or strategic, leads to a profitable end. A good leader constantly monitors the results and implications of their decisions looking for opportunities to strengthen or, if necessary, reverse course.

2. Hiring for Character:

Hiring decisions are tough ones.
Great leaders understand that nothing good happens without great people. They work hard to scout for talent, and they interview slowly over time and assess individuals for character and values more than pedigree or even experience. They live by the rule: “Hire slow.”
Managers are challenged to make judgment calls on limited data. The interview process is short and our ability to assess the skills, abilities, and character of individuals is challenged in the interview setting.
The individual they select is someone who’s lived, learned, and conducted themselves in a way that reflects a strong, positive character and value-set. And then they do everything they can to support the development of this individual.

3. Firing for lack of character.

A toxic employee poisons this working environment and must be eliminated.
Effective leaders work hard to get the toxicity out of their teams and organizations. They recognize their responsibility for creating an effective working environment where individuals are encouraged and motivated to offer their best.

No one loves firing someone; although, firing the toxic employee—after offering ample feedback, coaching, and opportunity to adapt—is an activity that leaves the leader feeling like she did her job.

4. Clarifying and dealing decisively with issues in the ethical gray-zone.

The best leaders work hard to turn the gray-zone issues—ethical dilemmas—into easy choices between right and wrong. This is harder than it sounds, and often compensation systems and the drive for short-term results make it tempting to take the shortcut. It’s a slippery slope and your character as a leader is on trial with these decisions. There are no results worth sacrificing your professional character.

5. Navigating “fork-in-the-road” decisions.

All leaders face directional choices ranging from tactical issues, this software or that software to strategic call, this market or that market. The tactical decisions impact how effectively and efficiently work is performed, while the latter—the strategic choices—change the fate of organizations.

The strategic calls are the ones that produce sleepless nights and ample worrying. The best leaders think through the big calls, striving to carefully diagnose the situation and develop solutions and options that maximize the opportunity for success. They seek out alternative opinions. They invite others to challenge their assumptions. And they look far and wide for the data that shares clues to the right direction. And then they make the decision and work relentlessly to turn the decision into actions.