Learning and Leading in Ministry: Chapter Nine

Icantdecide.

Learn decision-making.

Homicide. Suicide. Patricide. Matricide. Icantdecide. This last crime falls into the same category, more or less: the inability or refusal to make a decision. A leader plays many roles, but only the role of decision-maker makes him the leader. You can’t just not decide. When a leader abdicates this responsibility and commits icantdecide, somebody’s going to die, figuratively if not literally. A good leader establishes criteria for decisions, assesses his options, acts boldly and endures the aftermath. Those who can’t do this need to get out of the way and let someone else lead.

With all the hoopla in recent decades about the freedom of choice, one would think that people are champing at the proverbial bit to choose what they are going to do in life. Not really. Many people rush to the brink of choice, peer over the precipice, turn pale and back off into indecision. Actually, the easiest decision is deciding not to decide. That’s why it’s such a popular choice. “I can’t decide because I don’t know if I’m making the best decision. I’m afraid to make the wrong decision. I may hurt myself in a hundred ways if I make a bad decision. What if other people don’t like my decision? What if it costs me too much? What if it doesn’t work out the way I want it to? What if I lose my support after I make this decision? What if I find out that it is the stupidest thing I have ever done?”

Some exercise the delay default. “Sleep on it. Make the decision the first of next week…or next month…or next year. Wait until after Christmas…or New Year…or winter…or summer. Let’s see what happens. Let’s see what Grandpa thinks about it. Let’s wait until the first quarter’s numbers are in…or the second. Let’s see how I feel in the morning. Let’s wait until I get back from my vacation.” Delay may indeed be the best strategy before making a critical decision, but it often turns into a slow way of committing icantdecide. Of course, you should always wait for all the crucial factors to come in before making a decision. After those factors become available, though, further delay indicates irresponsible leadership.

Someone had to make the major decisions that shaped the history of man. For example, how was the decision to drop the atomic bomb on Hiroshima made? In a little publicized historical twist, President Truman did not fully understand the facts. Earlier, he had made it clear to his generals that only military targets were acceptable for the A-bomb. When he received news that Hiroshima had been bombed, he made this statement:

“The world will note that the first atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, a military base. That was because we wished in this first attack to avoid, insofar as possible, the killing of civilians. But that attack is only a warning of things to come. If Japan does not surrender, bombs will have to be dropped on her war industries and, unfortunately, thousands of civilian lives will be lost. I urge Japanese civilians to leave industrial cities immediately, and save themselves from destruction.”

One wonders that if the President had known Hiroshima was not a military base but a city with 300,000 civilian inhabitants, would he have approved of the bombing? The answer, it seems, is no. (Leo Szilard, USN&WR, August 15, 1960.) Yet, some argue that, as gruesome as the bombing may have been, many thousands of lives were saved in the long run because it brought an end to our war with Japan . Regardless of the opinions, the decision-making task fell to the leader.

Every leader must learn decision-making. If you don’t know how to decide, learn how. If you need help, an abundance of material exists that thoroughly analyzes and elaborates on the process. You have many resources at your fingertips. If you don’t know what to look for, find out. No other aspect of leadership trumps the act of decision-making.