"It's not hard to make decisions when you know what your values are." Roy Disney

Decision-making is a core leadership skill. The secret or trick is to know yourself. Good decisions will grow yourselves, your companies, your team, your family, and your community and will require you to be a bit (sometimes more than a bit) uncomfortable.

Related: Stepping Forward in Leadership

Thoughtful decision-making requires the following:

1. An understanding of yourself and your own value system (clarity here makes all decisions flow)

2. An understanding of the situation and what it means to yourself and others

3. Input from trusted peers who have different and contrary perspectives

4. The desire for personal growth as a leader

5. The willingness to hear the truth when you are in love with an idea or skeptical of it

6. The keen awareness when you decide that you are ready to "take the ride" because you will grow and change

"Do not plant your dreams in the field of indecision, where nothing...

"Be miserable. Or motivate yourself. Whatever has to be done, it's always your choice." Wayne Dyer

This is one of the simplest statements and it is the hardest. The impact of this recession will be felt for a long time. The hard and easy part of being a leader during this time ....is to continue to be a leader in the face uncertainty and to maintain your motivation to move in a direction which may be unclear yet "feels right".

Feelings are taboo to speak of in leadership, business and organizations.....yet they are 'the secret sauce' of great leaders and are the source of our drive, the energy which moves us from common execution to uncommon excellence. It is the source which powers impactful leadership.

The important skill to learn is to differentiate between feeling and emotion. One is a source of great wisdom and truth and the later is to act out.

Feelings & Emotions in Leadership

Related: How to Move Past Analysis Paralysis

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