Napoleon said, “Better a bad general than two good ones.”
What he meant by that was that often when you’ve got two very strongly opinionated people, nothing happens. There’s animosity, there’s confrontation, and nothing really gets done. So what he was trying to say was too many cooks spoil the broth.
It’s sometimes better to have somebody who can just get things done.
Even if they’re not the best person. Even in your own team you’ll find that there can be conflicting views. There can be people who are very strongly opinionated. But your job as the owner, as the CEO, as the entrepreneur, is to get things done.
To do that, you’ve got to be able to make good decisions.
I was listening to Jeff Bezos in an interview recently. He said that, really, what he’s paid for is to make decisions, and hopefully good decisions. And that’s really what you are paid for as well.
Or I should say, that’s how you’re rewarded, by the quality of the decisions that you make.
So. there’s nothing wrong with having a team and getting input from them. There’s nothing wrong with going to a mentor or going to somebody you consider to be wiser. There’s nothing wrong with going to somebody who has
experience in the issue that you need information on. But never forget…
The ultimate decision is yours and you have to make it.
I’ve seen many entrepreneurs who when they have an issue or a problem, they’ve gone to people, and then they kind of get stuck because they can’t decide whose opinion that they should listen to.
That’s my point: It’s better to make some decision than no decision at all.
The U.S. Marines have a saying:
“A good plan today is better than a great plan tomorrow.”
It’s very much the case when it comes to entrepreneurship. There’s not always enough time to gather all of the information you need to make great decisions.
In fact, Warren Buffett said that by the time you have all the information you think you need, the deal is already gone. It’s kind of like that in real life as well in business.
So, the ability to make good decisions and feel very comfortable making those decisions, even if you don’t feel that you’re got your head 100% around a thing, is necessary.
It’s better to make the decision, live with it, move on, and learn from it. So, your next decision will improve upon your last and so on into infinity, getting better and better.
