Decision-making requires choices. But choices do not always suggest what decision needs to be made.

We would like our options to lay themselves out neat and tidy as easy-to-compare alternatives where the pros and cons of each translated into a prioritized ranking with the clear winner presenting itself plainly.

No such luck!

Instead, a myriad of unrelated issues collide into incoherent and often contradictory alternatives from which every gain involves its share of setbacks.

My suggestion is to give up trying to make the “right” choice and settle on making the next choice. The next choice can be made over and over again, with appropriate adjustments for learning from previous choices.

Trying to discern the “right” or “correct” choice can quickly absorb a disproportionate amount of time and energy. The “next” choice can be incremental, experimental, and partial. You will be in motion making your “next” choice, which is far more productive than sitting still while searching for the “right” choice.

Do you have trouble making choices when no clear alternative presents itself? I’d love to hear a story or two about a recent decision-making quandary you faced.

On your side,

- Karl

Some mornings it requires nothing less than courage to face the day.

Our stresses are many. Pressure comes from unexpected quarters. Projects are not turning out the way we planned. Sabotage seems more common than support. The political winds shift against us. Money dries up and options seem scarce. No one answers when you shout, “Where’s the love?!”

Some mornings we simply need to be our own best friend. Say to ourselves,

“Hey friend. I believe in you. As daunting as the day threatens to be, it will be worse for all involved if you don’t show up.

No one else can give the contribution that is yours to bring today. No one.

I know you’re weary. I know you feel assaulted on multiple fronts. I know it’s not fair. But I know you. And you don’t give up. You can’t stop caring. You won’t allow those around you to settle for less than best, and you won’t allow yourself to in this case either.

Someone, maybe even God, has given you to this day as much if not more than given this day to you. It’s time now to face it and engage it. I believe in you.”

What do you say to yourself to muster the courage to face the day?

Responsibility is a reflection of freedom, not control.

Any obliging of oneself is responsible to the extent that it is an act of freedom. If coerced, forced or manipulated, the responsibility shifts to the controlling party.

Leaders mistakenly believe that they can delegate responsibility without granting the freedom to choose. “Do this and do it in this way.”

Some even wonder why their assignment is not greeted with more enthusiasm and appreciation. Bewildered by the ingratitude and (more…)

Leaders often assert that they are “big picture” people and can’t be bothered with details.

But perspective does not work that way.

Beside the fact that any time a leader says he or she can’t be bothered with something, it is a significant clue that they are out of their element and making an excuse.

We are learning that there are more perspectives than merely the traditional forest versus the trees, or whether I’m standing in my shoes or yours.

What about the perspective of an unfolding future? Whether standing still or in motion ourselves, life, relationships, technology, laws, personal health, our competitors, the economy are all changing around us. As the future unfolds, how and where do our choices fit in and become part of what takes form?

How, as a leader, do you pay attention to an unfolding future and consider its implications to your business?

What about the perspective of human development and maturity? However sound our organizational charts and however well-defined our job descriptions, the individuals who embody those lists are continually developing, learning and expanding their capacities.

How, as a leader, do these individual developmental trajectories inform your planning, business development, and/or strategic thinking?

What other perspectives should we be considering?

I don’t even want to look at my work today.

A good sign that I need some space. Fortunately, it’s Saturday and with the kids off from school, I won’t be able to pick up my work if I wanted to.

There are other times, though, when I’m so full of new ideas and unfinished projects and return calls to make that I can barely see straight. It’s when I feel like there are no options that I have learned there is one option I must be sure to act on.

Get some space.

A long walk along the beach will usually do it. The salty breeze, the endless horizon, the simple colors of blue water, white foam and brown sand. The space creates room inside me for the dreams and responsibilities, feelings and tasks, relationships and deadlines to move around and reorder themselves.

Not a conscious exercise but a hidden phenomenon taking place in the background while I am otherwise occupied ducking an errant frisbee or digging for sand crabs or counting sailboats.

I then go back to work. And am ready to do so, because I go with refocused eyes and a refreshed heart.

What do you do to get some space?

To whom do you look when you need a leg up, a wise word, honest feedback, a generous dose of encouragement, or a safe sounding board?

Not in the formal sense of a named “mentor/mentee” relationship structure, though those are wonderful. But when you find yourself looking around for someone who’s “been there before,” who do you find yourself turning to?

Who, before offering any advice, is simply on your side? Who believes in you and has an oddly generous interest in leveraging their experiences, relationships, and resources for your benefit?

I’ve had such people in my life in the past. Maybe I am wistful for someone similar now. It seems to me, though, that such figures are too few and far between.

Whenever I find myself feeling others should be doing something they’re not, I have to ask myself what I’m doing. Who do I come alongside and give the gift of encouragement, acceptance, availability and any resources that might enhance or enable their success?

And so the original question gets reversed: How do you come alongside and empower others?

Well it seems to be a toss-up among the economists whether or not the U.S. is in a recession. Of course, the semantics are lost on anyone who has already lost their job.

I hope you are not struggling with the fear and anxiety of job loss. If you are, then let’s get together and talk.

Sometimes it takes something difficult to force us to take action on something good. I want to suggest that a tight job market may actually be a opportune time to rethink your career direction.

Instead of passively hoping against hope that you don’t lose your job, take control and use the opportunity to reimagine your professional possibilities. It’s the difference between a posture of worry and paralysis versus a posture of composure and choices. Same ambiguous situation, completely different experiences of it!

If you don’t have a copy of our Passion Finder yet, it is an excellent tool for times such as these. Take a look at it now. Get a copy for a struggling friend.

And, of course, I am available to help you take a more intentional look at your job and yourself.

On your side,

- Karl

Marcus Goodyear solicits a story from me about an odd job I’ve had.

As ordinary as the job might normally have been, it became an extremely odd one the day I had to tell 10% of the firm that they were being laid off… effective immediately.

How it became my job to fulfill this grievous and thankless task, I’m not quite sure. I remember dreading it for days. I remember the look of shock on each person’s face. I remember every question about their future well-being, for which I had no answer.

Life and work collide in strange ways at times. Decisions ensuring the well-being of the whole result in harm for more than a few. Short term harm, we hope and trust. But we do not know.

Once the employment relationship is severed, other forms of relationship feel awkward… even inappropriate. Who am I to ask about their feelings, when I have just upended their world from my position of power and security?

It’s the difficult decisions that make us think most deeply; feel most intensely; and, hopefully, choose most courageously. We don’t get to track the future implications, consequences, and eventualities that came of that fateful day. I am left holding neither all the responsibility nor no responsibility for all the choices by all the people involved from that point on.

It’s life and work in real time. Often it involves the oddest jobs.

I’ve been thinking about the value of formal education since returning from a college tour with my daughter.

Granted there’s an expectation in the culture that necessitates degree work for appropriate professional credentialing. But in addition to that, there is the importance of being able to think clearly, comprehensively and complexly in order to meet the challenges of 21st century planet Earth.

I’m not a big fan of the job-focused approach to education. While being able to secure a job is vital in this money-based world, we need more than the capacity to impress to result from our education.

Try asking yourself, “Whose world is this?”

If your answer is, “Theirs” then your focus becomes figuring out what “they” expect and making sure you have it. Once you learn their rules, your education becomes a means to comply and compete. To get the job and to keep the job.

If your answer is, “Mine” then your focus becomes figuring out what “you” want and making sure you are taking steps to make it happen. You become a participator in making the rules, and your education becomes a means to think and act more creatively, more systematically, more resourcefully. To show up fully and make a difference.

If you have teens like I do, whose world are you preparing them to inhabit?

The kids are on Spring break. I am not.

But I work for myself. So theoretically I can stop working any time I choose.

But then life does not happen “theoretically,” does it?

And so I look through my to-do list, my project list and my contact list, and I think, “I’ll never breath again, much less enjoy Spring break!”

Those of you who know me, know that I am anything but driven. So finding an excuse for a diversion in not my particular difficulty.

Allowing myself to enjoy the diversion, though, is.

So here’s what I’m doing. I’ve planned a few activities with the family over Spring break. They are on the calendar. Anything else can take place around those fixed points of light.

Instead of Spring break slipping through my fingers, for example, I’ll be visiting colleges with my daughter for several days. It’s been on the calendar. Set aside before anything else had a chance to compete for the time. And, believe me, now that we are getting ready to depart, you wouldn’t believe the number of things competing for the time.

Let me know what you do to set aside time without being haunted by everything else that you are not doing.