What Separates Decisive Leaders From the Indecisive?
Whether you like Elon Musk or not, all aspiring CEOs should take notes from the small- and large-scale decisions behind his Twitter takeover.
While sacking people via email, presenting ultimatums to remote-workers and terminating executives was received with a share of controversy, my takeaway relates to how driven he is. He clearly entered Twitter headquarters with a plan that he immediately began executing, even if some or many mistakes were made. As a CEO of SpaceX and Tesla, he is no stranger to leadership responsibility and clearly knows that mistakes are a natural part of growing pains.
A comprehensive study of 17 000 executives found that decision-making speed mattered significantly more than the quality of those decisions. Virtually all CEOs had made material mistakes in the past, and 45% of them had experienced at least one major career blowup that resulted in them being fired or costing the company significantly. However, almost 80% of that subgroup of candidates ultimately became CEOs of large companies.
Despite bleak predictions and the recent merging of the Twitter entity in Musk's X Corp entity, Twitter's ad data suggests that the company's traffic has increased by over 2% or 12 million users since Musk took over in October last year. Even though Musk made many mistakes, his perseverance in the face of wide public criticism and the ability to learn from mistakes and improve his decision-making on the go ultimately brought a positive compounding effect and has him poised to create the "everything app".
It’s exciting to mull over possible pathways to success when your business is growing in favourable economic conditions. Deciding whether to hire new talent or invest in a new sector is a welcomed dilemma for any CEO. However, true leaders are born in crisis when unpopular decisions must be made with great haste.
One of the most challenging choices a CEO or a team leader can make is deciding who to terminate when layoffs become economically necessary. It’s when what’s popular with the team must not be misconstrued with what’s best for the company. It’s easier to save face by delegating this difficult task to a subordinate, but in the long run, your team will respect you for rising to the occasion when the company needed a steel-nerved leader. And that respect will be a more valuable asset for future decision-making than short term popularity.
To reiterate:
Make any decision and do it quickly. Don’t make no decision.
Use failure as a massive learning opportunity. Your instincts will improve with experience.
Take the next RIGHT action. Doing what’s best for your team will ultimately benefit you more. Your company values provide great guardrails for this.
Steel your nerves and make unpopular but necessary choices.
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