The secret to fast decision making

How do you know when you know enough?

That’s the central problem I have been faced with during a frantic four weeks of pitching to big businesses, helping small businesses find their competitive advantage and getting a business plan up and running for a new app I’m starting.

We have so much information available to us it is too easy to get bogged down. Even worse, suffer decision paralysis because we don’t know if we know enough of the right stuff.

There’s a lot at stake whatever size business you are. In fact you could argue that our small businesses have the most at stake as we have much less margin for error while our cash flow remains under such intense pressure.

So it is safer to wait till you are more sure of your footing. Wait till there is more information to add to the data lake. Wait. And wait. 

And before you know it, someone else has acted and taken advantage of the opportunity.

And all you have is a growing pile of data. Not dollars.

So how do we act quickly to seize opportunity when we live in such an uncertain world?

US Secretary of State Colin Powell cracked this conundrum with his 40-70 rule that I’ve found to be invaluable to help business leaders move forward with confidence in 2020. 

According to Powell, relying on less than 40% of information is reckless; waiting for any more than 70% and the opportunity has passed.

It’s a freeing thought. To make decisions without 100% of the available information. The key is finding the point at which you are comfortable with the level of risk versus the opportunity in front of you.

Leaning into the prevailing wind of change rather than fighting it.

Then using data to to check how you’re doing as you move forward and course correct to improve your product or service. Rather than trying to divine a path to then follow to a destination that may no longer be relevant when you get there. 

It needs a leap of faith to trust your gut rather than wait till you have a complete picture. And it takes a little courage to make each leap. Yet the rewards are as great as the opportunities you put yourself in the driving seat to seize.