How Leaders Make the Tough Call

Mark Cole:

Hey. Welcome to the Maxwell Leadership Podcast. This is the podcast that adds value to leaders who multiply value to others. My name is Mark Cole, and today John Maxwell is going to teach a lesson on how leaders make the tough call. I know. Stop it. Pause it right now. Every leader wants the easy call, right? I’ve heard John say often that it’s the difficult, it’s the tough call that makes leadership necessary. If it were easy, everyone would do it. But today we’re going to recognize the difficulty of leadership and your ability to make the tough call rest in your ability to gain leadership credibility. John is going to share eight ways to help leaders like you navigate making your next hard decision. This could be exactly what you need for the breakthrough you want. If you’d like to watch this episode on YouTube, visit MaxwellPodcast.com/YouTube. If you would like to download the free bonus resource for this episode to make note-taking easier, visit MaxwellPodcast.com/ToughCall. Now, here is John Maxwell.

John Maxwell:

Here’s what I know about tough calls in any organization. Peter Drucker is exactly right and I’m in your notes now. Whenever you see a successful business, someone once made a courageous decision, tough calls. When they’re the right tough calls equal breakthrough. You are only for some of you in this room, you are only a tough call away. Since that’s part of leadership and since we all have to make it, there are things that will help you and things will help me in making the tough call. Number one, accept tough calls as a requirement of leadership. Just start there. Accept tough calls as a requirement of leadership. Leadership means having the courage to make decisions not for easy headlines in ten days, but for a better country in ten years. Ex Prime Minister of Canada said that your decisions and your notes will always be better if you do what is right for the organization rather than what is right for yourself. But accept tough calls as just a requirement of leadership. With leadership comes tough calls. Number two, do your homework. When you got to make a tough call, make sure you’ve done your homework. Research can make or break a major decision. So the biggest mistakes in decision making come from leaving out pieces in the puzzle. During Christmas, we always do a family project of putting a puzzle together. We always get a puzzle and they throw it out on the table and get all the pieces and away they go. Now, my job, because I can’t put the puzzle together, I don’t have puzzle making ability. It’s not my gift. I just want to look at the pieces that they’re all messed up and I want to raise my hand and say, heal haven’t come together in 15 seconds and then talk about the marvelous work of God and move on. And I’ve not been able to have that healing power over the puzzles. But, you know, what? They always give me the same job. We have a color copier in our home. On the box, they have a picture of the puzzle. So I always have the same job every year. I go make a copy of the picture and put about four or five of them around the table so that anybody sits down, they’ve got a picture of the puzzle in front of them, and that’s my job. After I’m done, they dismiss me, but especially Margaret and Joel, they’ll spend hours working on that puzzle. They love it. They’ll work on that puzzle. But here’s what I know. To put the puzzle together, you got to have the picture first. Now, when we’re talking about doing the tough call, I’m saying you got to do your homework. And there are pieces needed to complete what I call the decision puzzle. I’m not going to spend a lot of time on them, but let me give them to you. Letter A. Define the issue. Write it down. What is this issue? Letter B. Gather the information. Start gathering facts. Weigh them carefully. Be sure you have enough important information to make a wise decision. Then consider death. Look at this last statement, though. Seek insight, not just information. Thirdly or letter C, question your first impressions. Those who can doubt their own judgment usually make competent decisions in the end. Letter D. Outline a strategy that’s part of the homework process in making the tough call. Number three set a deadline. Schuler was right when he said again and again, the impossible problem is solved when we see that the problem is only a tough decision waiting to be made. In other words, you got to get a deadline on it. And there are five reasons the deadline should be set. Letter A when others depend upon your decision, in other words, in leadership. One of the things I have always found is many of the reasons I had to make the tough decision quicker was not for me, but was for the fact that other people were waiting on me. Now, if you as a leader are always having your people wait on you in what I would call an extra long time or term or fashion, then you’re not really giving them justice. That’s one of the reasons why 99% of all the decisions that are being made in my company are made by other people, not myself. Decisions should be always made at the lowest level, not the highest, and it always expedites things quicker. Letter B a deadline should be set when it is part of a larger decision. In other words, if it’s just part of a larger decision, then you’re again holding things up. Or three, when our homework is complete, or letter D, our decision will not be a pleasant one. I’m a strong believer in making a deadline when the decision isn’t pleasant, because you know what pastors do now you don’t do this, but what pastors do when they have an unpleasant decision to make and they don’t want to make it? And I’ll look up and say, have you made that decision yet? They’ll say, Well, I’m praying about it, which is their spiritual ease, christian ease way of saying, I haven’t made it yet, and I don’t want to make it. But you don’t just tell people, I don’t have the guts to make the decision. You don’t do that. So you just say, well, I’m waiting on God. I’m saying, Well, God’s waiting on you. Okay? Hello. Get a life. Get on with it. A deadline should be set letter E, when our fear of failure delays our decisions. Okay? Those are just ways to help you with the deadline. Number four, I’m talking about helps of making the tough call. Make sure that the timing is right when you make the tough call. Here’s what I have found. The tougher the call, the more important the timing. That’s a good thing to grab hold of easy calls. Timing very seldom matters. Tough calls, timing is essential. So the tougher the call, the more the timing has to be right. Number five in making the tough call, seek counsel from the right people. Okay? Number six, by the way, let me just stop long enough before we go to number six. That’s why in my 21 irrefutable laws of leadership, the law of the inner circle, those closest to you will determine the level of your success. That’s why it’s important to have good people around you, because they’re the ones that you bounce things off of and ask the questions, and you’re only as good as the people that give you the answers. So if you got good people around you, you’re going to get good advice. You got bad people around, you’re going to get bad advice. So when I say seek counsel, you don’t seek counsel for counsel’s sake. You seek counsel from the right people. Number six, make your decisions on the principles and values that you believe in. Never violate your principles. Never violate your values. When you make the tough call, martin Luther King, Jr. Said, cowardice ask the question, is it safe? Consensus asks the question, Is it popular? But conscience asks, Is it right? And one of the things that I have found in the 21 laws is that it becomes a huge guideline when I talk about making decisions with principles and values in it. One of the things I have found is when I was doing a conference recently in San Jose, a pastor brought this to my attention. He came up and said, john, what I have found is that your 21 laws is my guideline for leadership. And when I have to make a tough call, I go back to the 21 laws and I ask myself, am I violating any of these laws in making the tough call? And he said, I find it to be a huge structure and reinforcement to me when I’ve got to make the tough call. Number seven, develop systems that enable you to make the tough call, because as a leader, you have to make a tough call. I have found that if I develop systems, I can make a better tough call. For example, when I am working with a board and many of you do not do this, but because of my background, I was constantly working with a church board. What I did is I developed my church board agenda into three sections information items that’s discussion what’s happened in the organization. It only took five minutes. Study items, issues that needed to be discussed but not voted on. This is where the meat of the meeting was. This would last usually an hour to an hour and a half. And action items were those items that would be voted on that had been previously discussed. Now, here’s what’s key. Now, you talk about making a tough call. You start your meeting off and you talk about the good things are happening. Spend five minutes, let me tell you this and this. You get the information, then you say, now, there are a couple of issues we want to study tonight. Now, what’s powerful about this is we’re not going to vote on this. We’re going to discuss it. See, what I found out is once you remove voting from people, they become much more open minded. They become much more free to exchange. So the study items we’re going to talk about, we’re going to discuss. We’re going to try to think them through a little bit better. So everybody throws their ideas on the table and it gets pretty good. But they know that they can throw their ideas on the table. They don’t need to defend anything or protect anything because there’s not going to be a vote taken. So what happens is, in the study items, you get free flow of conversation, ideas and thoughts. Action items are only items that had been previously discussed the month before. So what happens is, and that only took five minutes because you’d already previously discussed them, so you never had the surprises, you never had the sneak ups. You really gave good prayer and thought and reflection on the tough issues that you had to make. It was just a way for us to make the tough decision. Number eight, understand the emotions of making the tough call. Scott Peck said the best decision makers are those who are willing to suffer the most over decisions but still retain the ability to be decisive. How true that is. Decisions mean change, which can be threatening. Fears may try to force you back into your comfort zone to remember this. See second thoughts as normal. In other words, you have second thoughts. That’s just normal. Take time to mourn what you’re leaving behind. I mean, there is a mourning process in tough decision. Accept the principle of trade offs. We talked a little bit about that. Pray for strength and energies, and there’s all kinds of stuff in there. And then Andrew sherwood said, successful leaders dare to be unpopular when they have to make tough decisions. And they accept that there may be long periods before the rewards of their efforts finally appear. That’s a tremendous statement. So many times in our lives, I think we look at decision making and think, I’ve got to make a decision that somehow will help me. There are some decisions you’re going to make. Some of the toughest calls you’re going to make aren’t going to help you. They’re going to hurt you. But you still got to make them. And the reason you got to make them is because you got to live with yourself. Whatever you do, go make the tough call.

Live2Lead:

Hello, this is John C. Maxwell. I’ve been teaching leadership for over 40 years. We’re gathering in Atlanta for our 10th live to lead leadership conference Friday, October the 6th, and I want to personally invite you to join us. Live to lead is about empowering you to live out leadership, not just learn it. World class leaders Kendra Scott and Marcus Buckingham and Ryan Leak will be joining me to impart wisdom, inspire change, and help you lead more effectively. Hey, bring your team. Groups of ten or more receive a significant discount. So let’s grow together because leadership isn’t a solo journey. It’s best experienced in community with others. Visit live2lead.com today and let’s make leadership a lived experience.

Mark Cole:

Hey. Welcome back, Traci. I love this. I love this quote that John ended with with Andrew sherwood. Successful leaders dare to be unpopular when they have to make tough decisions, and they accept that there may be long periods before the rewards of their efforts finally pay off. And I’m so glad you’re hosting with me today, guys. Traci Morrow. You know this. You know her. You talk about a lady that is a leader. You’re talking about a lady that’s had to make some tough calls in her business to stay true to her moral compass. Talking about a lady that has been an incredible mom and wife and yet built businesses. Traci, I dare say that as we listen to this lesson, we each begin to reflect on tough calls we’ve had to make along the way. And I mean this. I love having you here every time, but knowing your world and knowing how you constantly step up and make the tough calls to earn those leadership stripes, I’m very glad we’re getting to share together.

Traci Morrow:

Oh, well, that’s so kind of you. And I am glad to be with you to talk about this because I’m sure like so many of our podcast listeners, I listen to this, and I always hold myself to the ruler of measurement of where could I have done a little bit better? Where is my room for improvement? And John does take us through eight things. This is a very meaty lesson, so I’m excited to get into it with you. But before he even gets to the eight things he says know, tough calls equal a breakthrough. And so before we even get to those eight, my first question for you, really, Mark, is you have referenced many times on the podcast that you are a recovering people pleaser. And I would say that I am the same not a recovered, a recovering, because it’s active every day with every tough call that we have to make and the decisions. But before you get to those eight things, you have to make decisions with yourself ahead of time. Can you give us some insight maybe into how John has mentored you as you come up on those tough calls and then maybe your personal agreements or decisions that you make with yourself as you come to that acceptance that you have to make that tough call? Because I know before you have to even get to those eight steps, there has to be an agreement with yourself that you’re even going to do that. Can you share a little bit about that process?

Mark Cole:

I would love to, and I’m glad you framed it that way. We did not script that in our pre podcast meeting. I want to say a couple of things that you picked up on right there, and that is the whole recovering people pleaser thing that constantly, day in and day out, we’re having to work through. The other thing that I love what you said was the ability to start with a framework on making tough calls. And those two things I want to pull out of what you said because they absolutely rest in my answer. See, I discovered a long time ago that I make people decisions slower than most when I’m hiring somebody. A lot of oftentimes you’ve heard me talk about this on the podcast. I actually want to consult or contract with people on a project or on a position or a deliverable before I offer them a job. Also, when I transition someone, I’m always certain that I have done everything I feel like within my power to give that person, that individual the best chance to prove their value to the team. What that does is it makes me make a tough call, especially on people issues, much slower than, say, somebody like John Maxwell. Not that I care for people more than he does, but I have to go to this first thing when I make a tough call, Traci I have to rest within myself that after making this tough call, I’m going to have a good night’s sleep. If I’m not ready to move on after making the tough call, I’m not ready to make the tough call. And I’ve watched too many people make a call that needed to happen, but they made it before they were ready, and it literally disrupted their leadership confidence for many years. After that call wasn’t a bad call, wasn’t even a bad timing of the call. They had not reconciled within themselves that the call needed to be made and needed to be made now. And for me and I’m talking to a bunch of podcast listeners, quick leaders, leaders that make decisions very fast. Whether it’s fast or slow is less of an issue of whether you are at peace with the decision. I’ve got to make sure that I’m at peace. The second thing that I would tell you in making a tough call, especially when it involves people, is I have to make a call for the betterment of the person believing that it will better the organization. I’ve had to make too many calls to where for the betterment of the organization I hope that it made the person better and I’ve just found I can’t get peace that way. So even in layoffs I’ve been a part of downsizing companies before and even in downsizing companies I have to realize that I am making a decision for the betterment of all people, not a betterment of the organization. The organization’s ability to sustain another day depends on our ability to cut cost. But our ability to have the opportunity to go forward depends on us cutting these costs and letting people have an opportunity to look for something else. For some Traci, that may seem semantical I got it, I get it. But the point that I want to drive right here is before you can make a tough call, I believe you have to have peace, that it’s time and that it’s the right decision that you’re making. I don’t always have all the right answers. That would be silly to say I know the downside and I’ve counted the cost of a tough call. I think that’s next to impossible. But I have gotten settled so that even when negative fallout happens because of a tough call, I’m still at peace with the negative fallout because I went through the checklist of making sure I have peace with the call I’m getting ready to make.

Traci Morrow:

I love that. And that brings us right up into point number one. You kind of teed it up and then you went right into number one of acceptance of tough calls being a requirement of leadership. So now we’re in it. Now we’re in the eight and he gave us eight of them. They were a great process of taking all of us through when we are making a tough call. So that number two is doing your homework and he gave a silly story about how he is terrible at puzzles. He is not someone that you’re going to want to bring in on a jigsaw puzzle but he talked about that you want to make sure that you don’t have any missing pieces. And so I’m curious what puzzle pieces do you mark see that leaders most often leave out if there is a common one is there a common step that you see leaders missing or that John has cautioned you to not miss yourself?

Mark Cole:

Yeah, I think, again, it goes back a little bit to what we were saying. I think the breakthrough that John’s talking about, tough calls equals breakthrough. I think the breakthrough is that whole peace with the decision that I was referencing just a moment ago. And I think that’s true. What John would say. John would say to me often, Mark, it’s your decision. You determine how to do it and when to do. And I thought, oh, that’s very nice. He’s such an empowering leader. And he was being nice, and he is an empowering leader. But let me tell you what he was being right there is a wise sage of a leader, because, yes, it is my decision, and yes, I do need to determine the timing. But when he gave me the permission or the encouragement, mark, it’s your decision. You need to determine when and how. What he’s really saying is get settled, get peace, and understand, this is a part of leadership. It is your call to make. I believe early on, if John would have went and started saying, hey, you need to do it this way, you need to do it that way, he would have paralyzed me from finding my own footing in making a tough call. Parents, let me talk to you a minute. And Traci’s much more qualified than me, except now I have four grandkids living with me, so I about have the same amount, Traci, as you do. But oftentimes I’m watching these parents, and they make these decisions for these kids. These kids, these kids don’t let them make any decision. No, you need to check with me. You need to check with me about that. You need to check with me about that. Just recently, Macy, the girl I love to talk about on this podcast, she said, dad, can I have a little bit of extra time on my curfew? I said, Macy, why would you want extra time? She said, Because the movie we’re wanting to go to ends here, and I would love to debrief the movie and find leadership excerpts from the movie. I just got played by my daughter. She brought in the debrief and going to do some leadership excerpts from it. I was so impressed with her creativity. I said, Macy, you come in whenever you want to tonight. I literally said that. She said, are you serious? I said yeah. What time do you want to she said, I’ll be 30 minutes late, not 15. I said, I think that sounds great. Now, here’s the whole point in that silly illustration. Too many leaders, too many parents make all these decisions for their kids up until they go to college and then wonder why they get to college and don’t make any good decisions. It’s because you have not empowered them to get their footing when a tough call needs to be made. And as leaders, as parents, we need to put into practice letting people make a tough call with us right beside them and then debriefing it with them rather than doing what very dictatorial leaders do. And that is tell everybody how to do everything and then wonder why they don’t make good tough calls.

Traci Morrow:

That’s exactly right. That’s exactly right. And since we’re doing a little parenting just right now, I just want to say since I’m on kid number six, who is also is going to be a senior this year, one of the things we always say is senior year is where we expand the boundaries so much that we give them the freedom to fail a little bit that last year so that they can fail forward with while they’re still with us and we can walk through so that when they fail a little bit that year, we can walk through what that looks like. So in their first year of full freedom, they have already had a little bit of failure and they’ve walked through it with us. So I think that’s kind of a great tip to pass on to those of you with your up and coming seniors.

Mark Cole:

Just a disclaimer here, Macy, if you’re listening to this, second semester, not first semester, second semester. I’m just kidding. I’m just kidding.

Traci Morrow:

I do have a question, one more before we go to number three, and it kind of piggybacks on number five. So number five, John says seek counsel from the right people, but it goes right along with in number two. When he talks about gathering information, he says seek insight, not just information. So I’m just curious for the seek insight question, piggybacking on number five, do you have an insight team and how do you determine the right people for the right decisions that you’re making? Like, do you have different teams of counsel for different things? Do you have different insight teams or do you have the same team that you go to for insight?

Mark Cole:

I have a couple of people that are a part of any difficult situation or difficult decision, tough decision that I have to make. One is John Maxwell. While God has continued to let me have favor with him, and while he has still such a great command and use of his wisdom, I think it would be malpractice to not include John in every decision that I make. The second one is my executive partner. I talk about Kimberly a lot. The reason I do those two is very strategic. One is somebody that has been before me, and two is one that will hear before I hear. And so I ask them the question and I play the scenario out to them with the decision that I am making and letting the person that’s gone before me that will tell me what it’s going to feel like. One month, five months, one year down the road after I make this tough call has become invaluable to me. And what I would tell each of you listening and wanting to know, how do I make sure that I’m getting counsel from the right people? Again, understanding that the right person for me is somebody that is ahead of me, they have probably made the decision I’m getting ready to make, the tough call I’m getting ready to make. They’ve probably made it a hundred times in their life, and they can give me a forecast of what it’s going to be like. That’s John Maxwell for me. The second is the person that’s going to have to catch all the flak from the tough call. It goes back to John’s question Traci that he asked that we talk about on this podcast, what’s it like to be on the other side of me. It’s the question I asked Kimberly. Kimberly, what’s it going to feel like for you once I make this tough call? What’s it going to feel like for you? She said, oh, my gosh, they’re going to call me. They’re going to say this, they’re going to say that they’re going to do Chris many times in that conversation with Kimberly, I get my message points to make during the tough call. Because once I hear from her what? She thinks it’s going to feel like to be her on the other side of the call. I can begin to communicate that with greater effectiveness. John always says when he’s going out to communicate to people, he’s not thinking about what he’s going to say, he’s thinking about how they’re going to hear it. Well, if we start making tough calls, not on what we’ve got, the decision we’ve got to make, but how the decision is going to feel by those that are on the other side of the decision. We’ll make a better tough call, we’ll communicate the tough call better, and we’ll have greater empathy, which is important for leaders to understand. Empathy in a tough call is better than making the right call at the right time. If people can feel the anguish, the empathy, the sympathy that you took to make that call, you will get more grace than you will judgment. And that’s important to leaders who have to make tough calls.

Traci Morrow:

And I just want to tie that into his point number six. And if you’re looking at your show notes, it’s going to be easier to follow along with what we’re talking about as we kind of hop back and forth. So hopefully you’ve printed out your show notes. If not, pause, go print them out, and then you can follow along with us because we’re working off John’s show notes as well. But when he talked about Martin Luther King Jr’s. Quote consensus, where he talks about cowardice, consensus and conscience, and he said consensus asks the questions, is it possible? Conscience asks, is it right? But sometimes consensus and conscience go together. You want to hear a little bit what he’s talking about, what Kimberly gives him. Sometimes you do need a consensus from the people of how it’s going to impact greater, not consensus from everybody just for popularity sake, but there does need to be consensus from the inner circle or from your impact team. So I love that. Okay, now this next question ties in question number point number three and four, setting a deadline and making sure that the timing is right. So I got upfront and personal to see you make a really critical decision when COVID hit, because we were in Israel together. When COVID hit, we almost didn’t get to come back to the US. Because we were actually on the last few planes that made it into the US before things started getting shut down. So when it got hit, you were hit with a very big multi million dollar decision about a huge or big event that was coming up, our IMC International Maxwell certification. And you had big decisions to be made. It all had to do with timing, and it had to be about a deadline that you had to set, really your own deadline. And so how did you set your own deadline based on timing that was happening? Things were coming at you really quickly. Now, a lot of leaders hear this, and we aren’t in COVID right now to the same degree, obviously, but we all still have deadlines and decisions that we need to make as it pertains to timing. So kind of take us through your little mental process of how you were looking at such a critical decision, of how it impacted the bottom line, as well as so many people on the team and how you went through that decision. That really tough call.

Mark Cole:

Yeah, thanks for bringing that up. And truly, thanks for bringing it up because it’s such a great reminder of the law of timing. And timing is important to a tough call. I remember that too, Traci. We were sitting in Israel and saying, is COVID real? Again? We left, John and I and Margaret. Yeah, John and Margaret and I had left literally a month before. We hosted two teams, and I was on my 20 eigth 29th day when we finally came back. And it was funny because we were all asking ourselves, is COVID real? Or are we such sinners that God needs us in the Holy Land a whole lot longer, like three years? But that was the moment, Traci, that I understood the power of timing, because I’m watching this. I’m watching the world really fragment. In fact, I will tell you today, I was dealing with a million dollar decision, a million dollar outcome from having to cancel that meeting back in March 1 of 2020. It’s a decision that lives on. But I’m convinced I made that decision right that day. And let me tell you why. As it relates to setting a deadline. I think any decision that has massive amounts of consequence to people and resources, you need to wait till the last possible moment to get as much data and as much information as possible. I’ve heard John say, anything worth doing is worth doing. Now, I’ve also heard him say, any challenge that can be dealt with upon getting more information should wait until we get that more information. Well, so I was getting this information, getting this information. We were really in a cocoon, in a bubble. Did not realize the magnitude of what was happening at COVID at the time, that it was shutting everything down. And yet I also knew that I was on the line for $4.6 million of a contract, that the people that I had the contract with was unrelenting. Sorry, COVID’s not that bad. You need to bring your people here and still live up to it. Yet. The thing that caused me to make the decision the day that I made it is because if I had not made that decision that day, they were going to order the food for all of these thousands of people who, incidentally, would not have shown up. And it was going to add another $750,000 to the outstanding risk that I had. And that became the day that I went, I can’t wait any longer. We’re canceling the event. It was a $4.6 million decision, but it could have been a 5.25, a $5.3 million decision, and I decided to cut the losses. Then. Let me tell you what happened immediately talking about breakthrough. As soon as I made the decision, phone calls of support started pouring in. You know why? Because all of these people that had registered was still trying to force their way into coming into Orlando, and all of their families were worried, are you going to go and not return? Are you going to go and get stuck? Are you going to go and get sick? Are you going to go and die? I had no idea that my decision would give so much relief to the people that were not even associated with the financial implications. Here’s the point that I want to make to this, Traci. When you can set a timeline and your team knows the timeline my team did. They knew by 02:00 that particular day I was going to make the decision. When you can set a timeline that your team can rally around, they can keep momentum high, and then if they know the timeline and the decision, they can pivot immediately and make the momentum even higher. The goal here is in tough calls, communicate more, be present more often, and be clear on why the decision was made. And even a difficult decision can give you great momentum if done with those three disciplines.

Traci Morrow:

I love that I watched that firsthand, and it was so fun to be able to watch you and John’s heads together. You asking people questions, and asking for feedback, being on the phone, gathering that, and watching that whole process, and then to hear that all these years later, it’s just encouraging for those of us who are continuing to make decisions with a deadline and on timing. Okay, we are at the close of our time, but do you have time for one more quick question? Okay, so on his point number eight, he said, understand the emotions of making the tough call. Now, I know that some people like to cut out emotions and just make it, and it really greatly impacts the team because they’re having an emotional impact. And sometimes leaders forget to weigh in on emotions, and then there are some who lean a little too heavy with emotion. And I think John did a good job of kind of addressing that. But my question for you is, what do you practice in the period between the now and the not yet? So you’ve made decisions, and you realize that with that quote that you opened up with, the Andrew Sherwood quote that John ended with, where you’ve made the decision and you haven’t yet seen, there’s a long period of stretch before the rewards and the efforts finally appear. So the decision has been made, you’ve made the tough call, and what do you practice in that period between the now where the tough call has been made and the rewards have come? How do you stay positive and how do you keep your team connected and moving forward with purpose and enthusiasm before the rewards and the efforts finally appear?

Mark Cole:

Yeah, I’m leading through that right now, Traci, to where in our organization, we’ve made some extremely tough calls in parts of our organization. Some of our organizations just really continuing to be incredibly blessed and doing great things. But I’m in the middle of this type of leadership now, and I have to tell you, in my desire to be candid with our podcast family, that I think you first and foremost have got to give yourself the freedom to be wrong. And here’s what I mean by that. If you’re making a tough call and there is no template to make that tough call, there’s no one that’s ever stood exactly in your shoes that’s had to make this exact decision, and yet you find yourself having to make a tough call because the times are different. Maybe the decision was before, but now times are different. This is post COVID. You can rationalize yourself into all these excuses of why no one understands your decision and can feel the weight of it, or you can take heart in that and say, I’m making decisions that have never been made like this in this time before. To be able to take that second route, Traci and podcast family, you’ve got to give yourself freedom that on the backside. You’re not going to have gotten it 100% right. You’re going to mess up. You’re going to fail. Are you going to get a return on the failure. And I’m finding right now, I made some decisions. I waited way too long. I had to get peace. And now I’m quote, unquote, paying the piper for delaying some tough decisions. And every single week, I’m realizing that decisions that I made recently, if made a year ago, would have helped us get a turnaround in some areas quicker. I can take that to heart and take my identity in that, or I can go, you know what? That’ll make me quicker on the next decision. See, it’s all in our ability to, number one, be comfortable that with everything that we had or everything that we have, we’re making the best, tough call possible. But as soon as that tough call is made, I go into learn mode. What could I have done better? What should I have done different? How quicker should I have done that? And then, secondly, you ask the question of hope and mobilizing the team. Never make a decision that don’t promise a brighter tomorrow. Never make a decision to pare back just to survive tomorrow. Never make a decision to pay consequences to bad things yesterday. Always make a decision with an ability to link it to a bigger, better, brighter future. And when you can do that, even though three weeks from now, you figured out you learned more than what you really wanted to you figured it out more than what you really wanted to figure it out, you can still go. But I did it because of my high belief in the future. And people can rally around leaders that make tough calls in exchange for a bigger, better, brighter future. They’ll do it every time. You’ve got to stand strong and say, I am making this decision because I believe our future is better. And when you can say that with integrity tomorrow, when the difficulty of yesterday’s decision proves even more difficult, you can continue pointing to that North Star of a bigger, better future.

Traci Morrow:

Love it.

Mark Cole:

Hey, Traci. It reminds me, one of our great thought leaders, Joel Manby, wrote a book called Love Works, and it’s seven timeless principles for effective leaders. But the reason Jake and our team wanted to highlight this today is because it really is all about an underlying foundation of why we as leaders make the tough call. It’s why you and I have the difficult conversations within our team, because we believe that love, a foundation of love, a culture built on love, will work at work. Most of the time. We say love works at home, love works in relationships. We believe that love works even in the tough calls, because you can build on that tough call, and you can build and have the culture that you want. I’m reminded as I close today of our standout statement, which is really, tough calls equals breakthrough. Tough calls equals breakthrough. I can remember too many times in my leadership to count that I delayed, I procrastinated, I waited, I delayed, I procrastinated, I waited. I know all three of those mean the exact same thing, but that’s what I was doing. I was waiting, I was delaying, I was procrastinating to make a decision. And then all of a sudden, I made that decision. The situation didn’t get better oftentimes, but the relief, the mindset, the hope, the inspiration to the team became instantly better. Because if you’ll make that tough call that you’ve been waiting on, if you will push forward and leave this podcast today saying, I have delayed that decision way too long, I’m going to make it. Breakthrough will happen, I would guarantee, immediately. It’s just waiting on you. Hey, I love to finish up with a listener comment, a listener question. Even if you have questions, send it over to how you listen to the podcast. If you’re watching YouTube, put it in there. Our team loves your comments. We value them and we want to respond to them today’s. A comment. And it’s from Susan. She listened to A Minute to Think with Juliet Font. We’ll put that in the podcast show notes because that was a brilliant lesson, a brilliant podcast, Susan said. Another amazing episode. I’ve ordered my book by Juliet, and I love the novel concepts for team and us leaders. Thanks for always adding value to us. And Susan, back at you. Thanks for always adding value to us. We do this because we want to bring powerful, positive change to the world around us, because everyone deserves to be led well.