Marcia’s Leadership Q And As: How Great Leaders Make the Best Decisions

Q. During both “business as usual” times and times of uncertainty and disruption in our industry, the markets, or the economy, we must make the best decisions we can. How can we improve our decisions?

A. Every executive believes decision-making is part of the job. Yet few recognize that how decisions are made matters more than who makes them.

Poor decisions rarely come from lack of intelligence. They come from flawed thinking, incomplete systems, false assumptions, and pressure to act fast without understanding consequences. In complex organizations, decisions do not fail because leaders are careless. They fail because leaders are operating inside outdated mental models designed for a simpler world.

The best leaders do not rely on instinct alone, nor do they chase consensus or copy what others are doing. They design better ways to think, evaluate, test, and learn. They recognize that decision-making is not an event. It is a system. Here are seven ways exceptional leaders consistently make better decisions, even under uncertainty.

1. Leaders understand the system before trying to fix the problem

Average leaders jump to solutions. They react. Strong leaders pause to understand the system producing the problem. They ask questions and understand the root causes of a problem before giving solutions and answers.

Every result an organization gets—good or bad—is generated by its system:structure, policies, incentives, workflows, metrics, and leadership behaviors. When leaders treat symptoms instead of causes, they unintentionally make problems worse, and the problems will keep recurring because they’re not solved at the root-cause level.

The best decision-makers ask deeper questions:

What are we trying to accomplish?
What conditions created this outcome?
What behaviors are we rewarding?
What constraints are shaping choices?

Instead of asking, “Who messed up?” they ask, “What in the system made this happen? Was it predictable? What does the data tell us?” This shift immediately reduces blame and fear. Then collaborative learning and understanding can flourish and, and the discussion can lead to far more effective decisions.

2. Leaders distinguish data from opinion and insight from noise

Most organizations are drowning in data yet starving for insight.

Great leaders do not confuse volume with clarity. They challenge dashboards, question metrics, and ask whether the data explains variation or merely reports activity. They understand that not all data is useful, and not all numbers tell the truth. What trends does the data show? Is the system stable?

They also recognize that experience-based opinions, while valuable, are not facts. Decisions improve dramatically when leaders separate assumptions from evidence and demand clarity about what is known, what is unknown, and what is being guessed.

Better decisions emerge not from more data, but from better questions about the data. And by charting the data and looking at it over time, it’s much easier to make decisions. Decisions should be tied to the customers. Do they make a difference for the customer experience and satisfaction?

3. Leaders slow down thinking, even when speed is demanded

Pressure creates the illusion that faster decisions are better decisions.

Exceptional leaders know that urgency often amplifies bias. Under stress, people narrow options, default to familiar patterns, and mistake confidence for competence. The strongest leaders create deliberate pauses in decision-making. They ask teams to reflect, challenge prevailing views, and explore unintended consequences before committing. Leaders ask, “What happened in the process?Show me the data.”

Slowing thinking does not mean slowing action. It means improving judgment before action begins. One hour of disciplined thinking can often prevent weeks or months of costly rework.

4. Leaders design decisions collaboratively, not democratically

Great leaders do not decide alone, but they also do not decide by committee.

They involve diverse perspectives early, especially those closest to the work. They invite dialogue, opposing views, disagreement without punishment, and encourage people to challenge assumptions rather than protect egos. Often they ask team members to play the “devil’s advocate” and flesh out various perspectives. One common tool used is Six-Hat Thinking.

However, collaboration does not mean consensus. Final accountability remains clear. The quality of a decision improves when leaders tap collective intelligence without surrendering leadership accountability. The goal is not agreement. The goal is understanding. Employees are responsible to share and contribute their ideas for a robust decision.

When people feel heard, even difficult decisions gain credibility and execution improves dramatically. That’s where speed is relevant.

5. Leaders test assumptions before scaling decisions

Many failed strategies share the same root cause: leaders assumed instead of tested. High-performing leaders treat major decisions as hypotheses, not declarations. They pilot, experiment, and learn before committing massive resources.

They ask:
What would we need to learn before this becomes irreversible?
How can we test this safely and quickly?

This approach reduces risk while accelerating learning. It also shifts the culture from fear of failure to disciplined experimentation, an essential capability in an AI-enabled, rapidly changing environment.

The Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) model of Continual Improvement is often used for quality decision making. It’s a collaborative model that is foundational for everyone learning and trying to improve a process.

6. Leaders consider second- and third-order consequences

Weak decisions solve today’s problem while creating tomorrow’s crisis. Strong leaders think beyond immediate outcomes. They examine ripple effects across customers, employees, partners, culture, and long-term capability.

They ask uncomfortable questions:

What behaviors will this decision encourage?
What problems might it create next year?
What trade-offs are we silently accepting?

This long-range thinking distinguishes strategic leadership from reactive management. It prevents short-term wins from undermining long-term performance.

7. Leaders continually learn from decisions after they are made

The decision itself is not the end. Learning is.

Exceptional leaders review outcomes without blame. They study what worked, what didn’t, and why. They refine future decisions based on evidence, not ego.

Instead of asking, “Was this a good or bad decision?” they ask, “What did we learn about our system?” and “How can we improve?”

This discipline turns every decision into an asset. Over time, organizations develop institutional wisdom rather than repeating the same mistakes with different names.

The real difference

The best leaders are not smarter, more charismatic, or more confident than others.

They think differently.

They recognize that decision-making is a leadership system, one that can be examined, improved, and redesigned. When leaders upgrade how decisions are made, performance improves, trust increases, and organizations become far more resilient in uncertainty.

In a world defined by complexity, speed, AI, and constant disruption, leadership is no longer about having the right answers.

It is about designing the right thinking to continually implement better answers.