The Leader Adjusts the Sail

From John Maxwell:

“The pessimist complains about the wind
The optimist expects it to change
The leader adjusts the sails”
“Number one characteristic of a good leader –
The ability to make things happen.”

What about you? Are you adjusting the sails or are you just thinking about it?

Are you taking action, or are you still considering it?

How many of us just hate it when someone in a leadership role cannot seem to make a decision. I know that personally, it drives me crazy. I have a very simple saying, make a decision will you please.

In my first management role I had a great boss, he taught me the one thing that has helped me be a success, that is the ability to make a decision.

He had a simple philosophy, “just make a decision and move forward, if you made the wrong decision, life will go on, you will just have to make another decision to correct it.”

In my first management review I got really hammered, not because I was doing a bad job, but simply because I was not making decisions, I was waiting, thinking, analyzing. I can still remember the words, “Manny, you are doing a great job, but, you have to learn to make decisions”.

How about you? Are you still thinking about it.

This is not just a business lesson today, it is a life lesson. Whether you are the CEO of a Fortune 500 company, or a spouse and parent of 3 children, you must take action, and you must take the responsibility for it.

Many times we get caught up in fear. We are simply afraid to pull the trigger.

One of the main problems with leadership today is that we spend so much time talking about it, so much time analyzing it, so much time thinking about it.

How about we just make a decision and move forward. Why is it so hard for leaders to make decisions today? Do you know that the higher you go in any organization:

1.The quicker you have to make decisions
2.The less information you have to make those decisions
3.The greater the impact of those decisions.

No matter what, you are never going to have all the information. No matter what, you are always going to run the risk of making a mistake.

From Og Mandino in the Greatest Salesman in the World. “Never has there been a map, however, carefully executed to detail and scale which carried its owner over even one inch of ground. Never has there been a parchment of law, however, fair which prevented one crime. Action is the food and drink which will nourish my success.”

If you find yourself thinking about it, if your team seems not to be moving the way you know they need to, if you seem to be hesitant, then start this week and make decisions faster.

Remember, it is OK for leaders to make mistakes. Don’t get caught up in the political model which is always trying to hang the leader for every decision they make. Success comes from making mistakes. Great leadership comes from making decisions, right or wrong.

Take some action – now – today.

You need to take action. As Joyce Meyer says, “Be aggressive in helping others, don’t wait to feel like it, don’t’ wait for some supernatural sign that God wants to use you. Just get started.”

Nothing happens until you do something. Nothing happens with you or your team until you make the decisions you need to make. Nothing happens until you take action.

One final quote from John Onberg says, “If you want to walk on water, you’ve got to get out of the boat”.

If you want to move forward, get out of the boat and take some action today.