Overview: Choices · Choices

Step 1 of 8: Hook

Think back over yesterday. How many decisions did you make? Most of them happened without you noticing. Leadership is the habit of noticing the ones that matter.

Step 2 of 8: Core idea

Choices is the face of the cube that sits on top. It is about how you decide when things are unclear. Super-Cube® treats four skills as learnable, not fixed: decision-making intelligence, moral values, judgement and risk-taking.

A simple way to hold them together is the Choices stack:

Clarify: what is the real decision?
Values: what must not be traded away?
Judgement: what do the facts, the context and other people tell me?
Risk: what is the smartest step forward, and how would I recover if it goes wrong?

Good leaders don't remove risk. They price it honestly and act with integrity.

Step 3 of 8: Real-world example

Nelson Mandela and the Springbok jersey, 1995

Many people expected South Africa's first democratically elected president to keep his distance from rugby, a sport strongly linked to the old order. Instead, Mandela backed the Springboks and walked onto the field at the 1995 Rugby World Cup final wearing the captain's number 6 jersey. It was a calculated risk: some of his own supporters disagreed. He weighed the values at stake (reconciliation, one nation) against the risk, and chose a bold, symbolic act. It is still remembered as a turning point in nation-building.

Source: Widely reported; see e.g. John Carlin, Playing the Enemy (2008).

Step 4 of 8: Reflect

Which of the four steps (clarify, values, judgement, risk) do you tend to skip when you are under pressure?

Take a minute to think. You can capture your answer in the journal at step 8.

Step 5 of 8: Micro-practice

Pick one decision you are facing this week. Write one line for each step of the Choices stack before you act.

I've done this, or put it in my calendar with a real date

Step 6 of 8: If–then plan

Plans written as “If [situation], then I will [action]” make follow-through much more likely than good intentions alone. Use ours or make it yours.

Step 7 of 8: Check your understanding

Step 8 of 8: Journal

Leadership journal

Describe a decision you're proud of. What made it a good decision, apart from how it turned out?

Write a few lines. Your journal is private to this device until you share or sync.

Private to this device until you share or sync