Recently I was having a discussion with A.G. Lafley (former Chairman, President and CEO of P&G and CEO of the year) and Anand Pallegar (Entrepreneur; Founder of Atlarge, Atlas Networks and DreamLarge among other companies) about leadership, and A.G. offered this simple message: “There are only three things that a leader needs to do: Think, Decide and Act. It is really that simple.”
That simple? He explained further:
Think – It is the job of the CEO to develop and lead the organization’s strategy and its business model. (I wrote a blog about making the time to think.)
Decide – An effective leader evaluates options and considers ramifications in order to make decisions. Once a decision is made, the leader needs to keep moving forward. Leaders get paid to make decisions (this is my comment).
Act – An effective leader is a master of execution. He/she gets things done! (In other words, an effective leader doesn’t just “think” and “decide”, he/she works to ensure there is execution.)
Yes, when I read this, it is simple, and I welcome its simplicity. However, as I am sure my colleagues would attest to “simple” is not the same thing as “easy”. If it was, then anyone could be an effective leader.
The intriguing opportunity implicit in these simple 3 words is that any leader can learn to think, decide and act better. These are the three things that a leader needs to do.