Decision Making
Oct 9th, 2007 by jared
I have seen it time and time again: Brilliant people with great ideas who can’t make a decision to save their lives, or their businesses in this case. It’s like the person had so much on his or her “to do” list that he or she couldn’t decide what to do first, so ended up doing nothing at all. Failure to make quick decisions will always be the downfall of an entrepreneur. As Lee Iacocca said, “The one word that makes a good manager—decisiveness.”
It is incredibly important that you make quick decision-making a habit early on. A good entrepreneur always goes with his or her gut. If gut-level feelings are one-third genes (or something that you are just “born with”), then the other two-thirds have to be experience and logic. That indescribable feeling you are born with will help you choose a path quickly, while logic and experience will help you solidify your decision because they will affirmed it with more calculated thoughts.
Because of this, I firmly believe that your gut is always going to steer you in the right direction. If your gut is telling you that path A is the right way to go and path B isn’t, then don’t take forever trying to figure out which path to head down. Run through your options quickly and then go with your gut. 
I was at the Spy Museum in Washington D.C. today and I saw a sign that displayed guidelines that British agents drafted during the late seventies to elude KGB surveillance. Number two in the picture at the right says “Always go with your gut”.
So many people miss opportunities because they didn’t listen to their gut and they delayed their decision process. For instance, there have been a number of hires I made when I really didn’t have the money. My gut told me, “Get this person on board whatever the cost; it will work itself out.” It’s not like talented people stay on the job market too long. If I listened to my bank account I would have lost amazing people who have helped grow my company tremendously. In every case my gut has been right; these people have contributed tremendously and as a result, mobileStorm continues to see 100%+ growth per year.
You get to a point where your confidence is boosted so high that you don’t even think about failure; it’s not even on your radar. Don’t get me wrong—I know I have made wrong decisions and will continue to make wrong decisions. Nobody always gets it right, but you can definitely minimize the amount of wrong decisions you make.
(Quick note to my A.D.D readers: God doesn’t hate you, but you do need to work harder at staying the course. The flip side is that your A.D.D gives you the ability to juggle lots of decisions; just make sure you see them through.)
There is one more thing I do to minimize my failure rate: Seeing those decisions out. Take the person discussed earlier, who can’t decide which task to work on. What happens when that person finally makes a decision, gets halfway into the task, and switches to another task? Too many people make a decision and then backpeddle; this is as bad then not making a decision in the first place. See your decisions through until at least you see that will fail, then you can switch gears and choose another path.
I relate with this alot because i always find myself being too cautious. Great advice Jared!
Jared, you have had to make some hard decisions. Following them through to the end and taking responsibility for them , is what separates boys from men! Thanks for you advise.
Heather check out the picture I just added that I snapped at the Spy museum today in D.C. That pretty much sums it up. Go with your gut.
Well when you have family that has your back it is even easier to make tough decisions
It especially works in extreme situations when logic simply refuses to work or there is no time for thinking it over. Intuition will never fail when it’s about life and death or something as important to you.
I remember an anecdote about the cowboy who was riding through a desert in the Wild West times, and then suddenly Indians appeared and started running after him. He knew he wouldn’t be able to escape this time. “It’s over!”, - he thought. But then he heard the voice of his intuition: “No, it’s not over yet, just stop and let them capture you.” He stopped. Indians surrounded the cowboy and prepared to finish him. “Now, I am dead,” - thought the hero. And he heard his inner voice again: “No, it’s not over yet! Come to the tallest guy of them and slap him in the face.” The cowboy listened to his intuition and did as advised. “Now, it’s over!”, - said the intuition voice.
P.S.: Loved the KGB surveillance principles.
Shav, you sound like you had to deal with the KGB before. Loved the story, never heard that one before. Thanks for the post!
Gr8 post Jaren ! Thought i add my thoughts through my short entrepreneurial career. I believe decision should not be made backed by emotions or self interest. You should always assess ur decision on the interest of ur Company or Company’s bottom line.
Zulfer, you got that right.