We all have to make difficult and challenging decisions throughout our life and these decisions often impact the future direction of our lives. Questions such as: Where do I live? Who should I marry?. These are life-changing decisions.
In business, too, we have to make strategic decisions all the time. Should we launch this programme or that programme? Should I enter into a joint venture with this person or that person? Enter this market or that one? These decisions can impact the success or failure of a business.
Yet have you ever stopped to think about how many trivial decisions you make every day? A 2011 study by K. Douglas, reported in the New Scientist, revealed that we make up to 10,000 trivial decisions every day. Often these decisions are so trivial that we don’t fully think about their consequences but over time a number of these trivial decisions can magnify to have a great impact on our lives.
We live in an age when we are deluged in information. A New York Times Weekly edition contains more information than the average person in the seventeenth century would have come across in their entire lifetime. In 2008 we consumed three times as much information as in 1960 and by 2020 it is estimated that we will be generating forty-four times more data than we are producing today. This data deluge brings opportunities, too, as we can now get access to raw, unedited source data rather than having to rely on third party interpretations of the results. And yet when the sources of the data are so disparate and often supply conflicting information, which data source do you believe? How do you know which decisions to prioritise?.
Decision making becomes easier when the purpose of the business is crystal clear. It leads to bolder, quicker and better decisions. Rather than adjusting decisions according to the winds of public opinion or changes in the competitive environment, a purpose driven company takes these things into consideration while also being informed by something more soulful and worthwhile. This leads to superior overall performance. Purpose-informed decision-making is a critical connection between clarity of purpose and superior performance, financially and otherwise.
The US pharmacy chain CVS Health is a great example of a company that made a strategic decision to walk away from billions of dollars a year in revenue because a product was at odds with the company’s purpose. So what was the product and what was the situation?
The purpose of CVS Health is “to help people on their path to better health”. When CEO Larry Merlo realised this he also appreciated that “the sale of tobacco products was inconsistent with our purpose.” So he voluntarily decided to forego a source of $2billion a year in revenue. The decision was an easy one for him to make because of the clarity of the purpose of the company; a classic case of purpose-informed decision making in action.
The art of great decision-making is to ask yourself great questions. Often when we are unable to make decisions it is simply because we are asking the wrong questions. Simply asking the question “Why”, which is a purpose question, immediately helps you get clarity on what to do next.
The Unbridled Business Decision Making Framework is something I share in detail in the new edition of my latest book, Unbridled Business. And if you need help defining the purpose of your business then please reach out to me.
Julia Felton (aka The Business Wrangler) is the founder of Business HorsePower. Business leaders, entrepreneurs and executives hire her to accelerate their business performance by harnessing the energy of their people to work more collaboratively together. By aligning purpose with actions the team achieves exponential results as everyone starts pulling in the same direction.
Julia believes that business is a force for good and through designing purpose-driven businesses that leverage the laws of nature, and the herd, you can create businesses founded on the principles of connection, collaboration and community that make a significant impact in the world.
