Summary:

Sir Martin Sorrell, CEO of WPP; Randy Komisar, a partner at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers; and Anne Mulcahy, Xerox’s chairman and former CEO, have all made strategic decisions throughout the course of their careers. This article provides comments from each and highlights a critical challenge: striking the right balance between thorough, unbiased decision-making processes, on the one hand, and timely action, on the other.

WPP’s Sir Martin Sorrell, believes that everyone makes mistakes and that decision makers should learn from these mistakes and listen to feedback in order to be able to react rapidly and grasp opportunities.

Randy Komisar, of Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers learned early in his career that rather than tuning out the natural bias we all possess, he focuses on recognizing, encouraging, and balancing bias within effective decision making. Mr. Komisar makes the comparison of how President Kennedy ran his cabinet: assemble the smartest people he could, throw a difficult issue on the table, and watch them debate it.”

Xerox’s chairman and former CEO, Anne Mulcahy,  offers five suggestions for other senior leaders: cultivate internal critics; force tough people choices; force tough R & D choices; know when to let go; and strike the right risk balance. For a complete explanation of these suggestions, please follow the link below.

Article Quote:

“While there’s no silver bullet, taking concrete steps to cultivate internal critics, safeguard diversity of thought, clarify assumptions underlying different points of view, and force tough choices between business priorities can help.”

Link: https://www.mckinseyquarterly.com/Strategy/Strategy_in_Practice/How_we_do_it_Three_executives_reflect_on_strategic_decision_making_2541?gp=1

A challenge for all leadership is striking the right balance between timely action and the need for thorough, unbiased decision processes. The leaders in this article each have a different approach, yet the underlying theme appears to be challenging the people around you with voicing their opinions and insights while possessing the leadership skills needed to recognize personal bias.

For more on strategic planning, see http://www.performancesolutionstech.com/category/strategicplanning/