By the end of this past August, the President had the report he requested from General McChrystal about troop strengths and strategies for continuing the war in Afghanistan. A decision was forthcoming and should have been announced within a couple of days.
If we really were committed to prosecuting the war to the fullest and accepting nothing less than victory, the decision should have been easy and quick. Also, it would not have needed a primetime news event to explain the intricacies of the complicated decision. In fact, no news event was needed at all - just make the decision and tell us what it was.
It seems that this management style is looking for all the ways to avoid making a decision, and deciding on less than the full request to do the job properly, relying on your own instincts rather than those with the keenest experience in the matter, and then couching the announcement of the decision in terms that allow for a failure to be pre-justified.
Andrew Carnegie once said, give him all the facts and he'd make a decision in under 30 seconds. Leadership. Decisiveness.
If we really were committed to prosecuting the war to the fullest and accepting nothing less than victory, the decision should have been easy and quick. Also, it would not have needed a primetime news event to explain the intricacies of the complicated decision. In fact, no news event was needed at all - just make the decision and tell us what it was.
It seems that this management style is looking for all the ways to avoid making a decision, and deciding on less than the full request to do the job properly, relying on your own instincts rather than those with the keenest experience in the matter, and then couching the announcement of the decision in terms that allow for a failure to be pre-justified.
Andrew Carnegie once said, give him all the facts and he'd make a decision in under 30 seconds. Leadership. Decisiveness.
For more information about my consulting, teaching, and coaching services visit my website at stevehoffacker.com. I also maintain a blog Sales Quips on the real estate network Active Rain, and you can begin participating in this great forum by visiting here. I also write and maintain blogs for Gold Coast SMC and Florida SMC. © 2009, Steve Hoffacker. All Rights Reserved.
