What decisions must the CEO make?

You probably have something on your plate this week that needs your attention, that needs a decision. And you probably have been pulled into a couple of things that others should just decide. 

The scary part is that somewhere out there is a decision that should have come to you but didn’t.

This year, I’ve had a number of CEOs quote President Obama to me, about how all the easy decisions are decided before they get to the CEO (or president). They are consequential and close. They matter a lot, and they are 51/49 decisions. 

This came up with Curtis Chang of Good Faith back in Episode 6, as well as in this week’s episode with Romanita Hairston of the Murdock Trust. 

Romanita pointed out something new, though. Just because a 51/49 call arrives on your desk doesn’t mean it should. She said:

I think the potential pitfalls of 51/49 decision making for CEOs is that if you don't have a good escalation framework, you can be making 51/49 decisions, but not the most consequential ones. You can be making the easy decisions because there's not great escalation, or the timing of decisions can be off because decisions don't reach you quick enough, or they're reaching you too soon.