Leaders have to make judgments about people, strategy and crisis. For many, it is not how many good judgment calls you make, but rather how many of the important ones you get right. This requires preparation, the decision, and then execution.
During times of uncertainty and ambiguity, a leader must first identify clear trends via market research, i.e., performance attributes for current technologies, elasticity of demand for products, competitor’s plans, value chain analysis, etc. After trend identification, you then identify and analyze discrete alternative scenarios, establishing probabilities for predictability. Evaluate the risk/return of alternative strategies, and you will still have some residual uncertainty (Source: McKinsey).
A leader takes all the responsibility and accountability. Jeffrey Immelt, GE CEO, said, “I make every decision, but get lots of advice. I don’t delegate. It’s “what do you think? Then I decide.”
Do you prepare trend identification to mitigate ambiguity for effective decision-making?
