On Leadership and Decision making:

Wisdom from T V Mohandas Pai:

On Leadership and Decision making:

·         Every little decision has big consequences and many more end in failures than those that hit the mark.

·         The fear of erring or being accused of wrong decision makes most leaders and organizations base their decisions on precedent. Doing the right thing requires complete awareness and honesty.

·         Self awareness allows a leader to make the best decisions for the organization and not just for oneself. It also makes the leader more open to contrarian inputs and gives the decisions the flavor of consensus. Subordinates lend to tell the leader what one wants to hear and that leads to poor decisions that hurt the organization.

·         An open culture which encourages different views is essential to make the right decisions

·         Leaders like to establish homogeneity in the organization through conformity.

·         In uncertain conditions with too many variables the decision makers would do better by erring on the side of experimentation instead of experience. 

·         Committees and long meetings are the biggest enemies of fast and effective decisions-making. While consultations and consensus are vital for the quality of decisions too often meetings tend to degenerate into durbars for the bosses.

·         To bring speed and quality to decision making, it is necessary to flatten the hierarchy and even push the decision making authority to those who perform the task and roles.

·         Technology allows instant consultation and collaboration and allows automation of routine and repetitive decision. Data can be analyzed by algorithms and trained to adapt to any changes in business events and adjust decisions accordingly.

·         Machines validate and predict business events but humans must make the strategic judgments and bear the final responsibility. 

·         The central role of decisions is to upgrade the present to a better future.

·         Decisions involve a paradox of preventing risks and taking risk at the same time.

·         Decisions separate the leader from the herd.

Source: Indian Management, August 2018