The Path to...
“Technological progress is like an axe in the hands of a pathological criminal.’ – Albert Einstein
I read an interesting saying the other day, “People who take caution with every step make little progress.” In my experience as a management consultant I have seen many people who require a tremendous amount of information before they make decisions. In some cases there are many uncertainties which need to be worked through and in others it is simply a management style.
I have also seen companies which have “strong intentions” to take a specific course of action, e.g. hire additional people, as soon as conditions are right. In organizations which wait for the right conditions to arrive, I have noticed that these conditions never arrive – or a new set of conditions will replace of prior set of required conditions.
In a prior post, I described the anatomy of a decision. By examining the attributes of the decision you have in front of you, it is possible to determine if your “cautious steps” are warranted or they are part of your management style. Sometimes making little progress due to cautious steps is necessary and warranted. Other times, cautious steps may be the very reason you may not be making the progress you are looking for.
Seth Godin posted that “more time does not create better decisions. In fact, it usually decreases the quality of the decision.” This may be true as the value that time brings is obtaining more information. Without additional input, the caution only creates anxiety.
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