Jan 22, 2024 3 min read Control costs

Decision making

Good business decision making is enshrined in the words of Kenny Rogers:

💡

You've got to know when to hold 'em
Know when to fold 'em
Know when to walk away
And know when to run

Here's the great man himself, with only 253m views and counting:

I have to admit that Kenny Rogers has not been my choice for music on a personal level.

These prophetic lyrics were bought to my attention back in the day by another PricewaterhouseCooper’s consultant when working in the Middle East. He was a senior IT consultant and unlike many corporately trained employees had run his own business.

These words had stuck with him when he sold a successful mail order business. Where these words were prophetic is that although making decent money in the sale of his business he felt he had made a mistake. He made a decision to remain mail order, via a printed catalogue and did not go all in with the new kid on the block, the internet.

For him, the lyrics 'know when to run' were not about running away from danger but towards the business risk.

Making good business decisions is tricky. There can be much at stake if you get it wrong.

💡

We are not talking about the concept of delegation and working without a blame culture. These are part of good people management, staff retention, maintaining staff buy in and getting projects over the line.

If you are not making good decisions, you should not be in management.

If you struggle making decisions in case you make a mistake, you are in the wrong environment.

If you gather all your information, collaborate with key people either internally or externally, evaluate risk, most importantly define clear benefits to the business and you sleep on your decision, then the words of Kenny Rogers hold true:

Hold
Fold
Walk away
Run

Being assertive is fundamental when looking at good decision making. I am not talking about the oversensitive categorisation of assertiveness as a type of bullying.

I am saying that good decision making is critical to the success of any business. If you are not making good decision out of fear, ability or laziness, you should be looking at the assertiveness of your decision makers.

💡

I have never seen a more positive affect on very gifted, intelligent however slightly quiet people, than training to be a public auctioneer. It was far more than simply projecting your voice. For every lot put up for auction, you need to know when to hold, fold, walk away or run.

Outside of public auctioneering, I've used stage voice projection training, team building and one-to-one coaching to look at better decision making in businesses.

The trick is to make the right decision over who should be a good decision maker.

You might also like...

Cultural Change Part Three - Projects.

Cultural Change Part Two - Decision making

Cultural Change Part One - The Business Model

Tendering

Managing Sales