Decisions and investments
Through the years I have met a number of colleagues with leadership tasks and managers. It left me wondering how some of them managed to get the position despite being obviously unfit for it. Also somewhat curious that they themselves thought that they were up to the task.
Business is about making money. If it does not make any money, it is not worth it. This is something I believe is important to keep in mind at all times. As always reality is rarely black and white. It is possible to argue that some departments and/or customers are important without being profitable. One key factor in making successful business is to keep customer focus. Strive to exceed the expectations. A makeshift mental map to achieve this is to try to find out what the expectations actually are. Then try to satisfy and surpass them in a manner that is affordable. That said, how to we go on making good business decisions? One very common decision making task in management is to decide whether to make an investment or not. If I don’t spend any money I do not make an error, hence I am safe. This is driven by fear and that is seldom a Good Thing. Instead, it’s vital that you’re able to reason about your investment. Then draw a conclusion whether it is valid in the medium to long perspective. Again, it’s not that simple but to be able to make a point, it’s essential to exaggerate the contrasts. Avoid an intuitive negative reaction to an investment as it involves spending money. A tendency to bring too little attention to details. Too much focus on the short term effects of decisions. This is a way to assess individuals considered for managerial tasks.