Tips for Prioritizing Speed in Decision Making

Chasing 'Perfect' Decisions Ever watch a brilliant founder flatline their startup? I have. More times than I can count. And it always starts the same way: paralysis by analysis. Here's the uncomfortable truth most "thought leaders" won't tell you: Being right is crushing your business. Think I'm crazy? Let's do some math: A "perfect" decision after 3 weeks = 70% success rate A "good enough" decision today = 60% success rate Seems obvious which is better, right? Wrong. While you're polishing that one decision, your competitors made three "good enough" moves and learned from each one. That's why Amazon's Jeff Bezos splits decisions into two types: • Type 1: Big, irreversible choices. Take your time. • Type 2: Everything else. Move fast. Here's the kicker: 90% of your decisions are Type 2. But we treat them all like Type 1. Real Story: Three years ago, I watched a founder delay launch for 2 months to fix "critical" issues. Those issues? Users never noticed them. What they did notice? The competitor who launched first. Your Quick-Decision Playbook: 1. Set decision timeboxes ("We decide by Friday") 2. Use the 80/20 rule (80% right now beats 100% too late) 3. Run 2-week experiments 4. Create pivot-safety ("We can always adjust") 5. Ask: "What's truly irreversible here?" The Hidden Multiplier: When you start deciding faster, your entire team follows. They stop waiting for perfect information. They start moving forward. They take ownership. Because here's what 20 years of scaling tech teams taught me: The founder who made 100 good decisions will always outperform the one who made 20 perfect ones. Your move: What decision are you overthinking right now? Make the call. Your future self will thank you. #TechLeadership #StartupStrategy #Innovation

📈 Speed = Performance: Why Great Leaders Decide Before They're Ready If you’re waiting for all the data to make a decision, you’re already behind. In a McKinsey study of over 1,200 executives, companies that made decisions quickly were twice as likely to achieve high-quality outcomes. And, they consistently outperformed their peers in revenue growth and profitability. Doesn't speed rely too much on gut and not enough on data leading to poor decisions? Not according to the research and not according to Jeff Bezos, who said: “Most decisions should probably be made with around 70% of the information you wish you had. If you wait for 90%, you’re probably being slow.” In banking and financial services, where risk and compliance loom large, many leaders are conditioned to over-analyze and under-act. But in today’s environment—where fintech disruptors move fast and customer expectations shift daily—decision velocity is no longer a luxury. It’s a core leadership skill. The best executives: 👉 Establish fast, repeatable decision routines 👉 Empower teams to gather just enough data rather than complete data 👉 Treat decisions as experiments, not verdicts When I started in venture capital where speed could mean the difference between winning and losing a deal but good analysis was the difference between making and losing money, we use this rubric: 1. What are the consequences of not making a decision now? 2. Do I have enough information to make the decision? 3. If not, is that information knowable in the time I have to make a decision (this was the real test) 4. How hard is it to remake this decision and what information would I need? A study by Deloitte showed the most successful CEOS shared two characteristics: the speed with which they made decisions and their willingness to change that decision. The takeaway: Speed doesn’t mean reckless. It means prepared enough to act, humble enough to adjust. Inaction is often the biggest risk of all.

One of the most underrated traits of a high-performing marketing team? Speed. Because in marketing, knowing what to do is only half the battle. The other half is how quickly you can get it done. Recently, the Kanahoma team launched the fastest out-of-home campaign I’ve ever seen: From idea to execution in under two weeks. To get it done, we had to: ✅ Align on Strategy ✅ Develop & Approve Creative ✅ Plan & Book the Media ✅ Install & Launch the Executions And this wasn't just a reflection of executing with urgency, but rather a reflection of a concerted effort to rethink how we approach the concept of time. So if you run a marketing team, here's one tactical tip for how you can expedite execution and increase the speed of your impact: When you ask your team “how long will this take?”, they’ll likely give you a timeline in days or weeks. But behind that number is an invisible traffic jam of competing priorities. Instead, try this: 1️⃣ Ask: “How many hours will this take?” 2️⃣ Then: “How many days or weeks will you need to find that time?” 3️⃣ Finally: “How do we pull those hours forward?” This shifts the conversation from internal project timelines to workload transparency - and brings prioritization out of your team’s heads and into the open. Now you can explore solutions together: ➡️ Can we delay lower-priority work? ➡️ Can someone else internally assist? ➡️ Can we bring in outside help? When you know the hours, you can find the path. So next time you're trying to get something live that drives performance, don’t ask “how long will this take?” Instead ask - “How many hours do you need?” You might be surprised how much faster you can actually move - and how powerful that compounded speed can be.

WHAT'S OVERTHINKING COSTING YOUR BUSINESS? "Let's gather more data before we decide." "I want to see what the competition does first." "We should run this by a few more people." These phrases are momentum killers. You research your market opportunity to death. Analyze competitors until you know their strategies better than your own. Build financial models with seventeen different scenarios. Meanwhile, competitors launch products, raise funding, and get acquired. You have the best research. They have the results. THE PROBLEM WITH OVER-ANALYSIS: In uncertain markets, more data often makes you feel safer without actually making you safer. Waiting too long to act usually costs more than acting imperfectly. HERE'S HOW TO BREAK THE OVERTHINKING HABIT: IF YOU HAVE MOST OF WHAT YOU NEED, JUST DECIDE. You don't need perfect information. If you've got about 70% of what you'd ideally want, that's probably enough. Waiting for complete certainty often means missing the opportunity entirely. PUT A TIME LIMIT ON EVERY DECISION. Give yourself two weeks max to figure things out, no matter how big the decision feels. If you can't decide in two weeks, break it into smaller pieces you can test. TRY STUFF INSTEAD OF STUDYING STUFF. Want to know if customers will pay for a new feature? Don't spend months researching—build a basic version in two weeks and see what happens. Test it with 10 friendly customers. Let real people tell you if it works, not spreadsheets. REALISTIC EXAMPLES: While you spent 6 months researching a new market, one company spent 4 weeks getting their first paying customer and learned way more in the process. While you spent 3 months analyzing pricing strategies, another company just tested two different prices with real customers for 5 weeks and got actual buying data. KEEP IT SAFE: Start small. Set clear success metrics upfront. Put time limits on experiments. Focus on learning fast, not doing everything perfectly. THE MINDSET SHIFT: Instead of asking "Are we sure this will work?" ask "What's the fastest way to find out?" The biggest risk isn't making wrong decisions—it's making no decisions while your competitors figure things out by doing. What decision have you been overthinking that you could just try instead? *** I’m Jennifer Kamara, founder of Kamara Life Design. Enjoy this? Repost to share with your network, and follow me for actionable strategies to design businesses and lives with meaning. Want to go from good to world-class? Join our community of subscribers today: https://lnkd.in/d6TT6fX5 

ever watched a leader fire off a 2:45 a.m. “urgent” email… and by sunrise the whole team is scrambling? that’s speed with zero steering—costly and exhausting. true strategic urgency feels different. it’s decision velocity: rapid, confident choices executed with purpose. how do you get there? run the v² flywheel with three momentum habits: decide fast ↳ collapse approval chains so the right call clears in ≤ 24 hrs ship small ↳ break big bets into micro‑releases customers can feel now show proof ↳ broadcast authentic wins within days to attract fresh fuel—talent, capital, attention cycle after cycle, velocity × visibility compounds into unstoppable momentum. want a 3‑week jump‑start? week 1: cut one approval chain week 2: ship a customer‑visible improvement week 3: share the win within 48 hrs measure decision‑cycle time and inbound interest before vs. after. if both rise, your flywheel is spinning. i break it all down—plus the sustainable guardrails that prevent burnout—in my latest article. give it a read and let me know which habit you’ll start today. #leadership #decisionvelocity #agility #momentum #futureofwork

I wish I knew this sooner... Default to Action: Give me 2 minutes, and I'll show you how to turbocharge your growth. I used to agonize over decisions, analyzing every angle, waiting for perfect information. This endless waiting is a trap. It's how you miss opportunities and stall progress. But what if you embraced a simple, powerful principle? Default to action. I was thinking about our company values the other day, how do we operate? The answer became clear. In most cases, you don't learn by sitting around and thinking about what to do. You learn by doing the thing. Think about it. Amazon's two-pizza team rule. Facebook's move fast and break things. They're all about action. Here's the truth. The speed of decisions is more important than the accuracy of decisions. Why? Because fast decisions lead to fast learning. And in the startup world, learning is currency. So I've stopped waiting for certainty. I've started embracing just getting stuff done. Remember Jeff Bezos said most decisions would probably be made with somewhere around 70% of the information you wish you'd had. Perfect is the enemy of done. And in our case, done is the path to growth. Here's the 3-step breakdown: Step 1: Embrace Imperfection. Decisions don't need to be perfect. They need to be made. Step 2: Act Quickly. Speed is your friend. Fast decisions lead to fast learning. Step 3: Reflect and Adjust. Once you've acted, reflect on the outcome. Adjust and improve. In the startup world, done is better than perfect. Perfection is the enemy of progress. The next time you're stuck, remember: default to action. There's always something you can do right now.

Leaders make 70 decisions at work every day. But are they fast and smart enough? The problem leaders face is: → They wait for perfect information. → They react to events instead of anticipating. → They drown in complexity instead of acting decisively. But what if you could: → Get your team on the same page, even in chaos → Make confident calls, even without all the answers → Spot problems early & handle them before they blow up → Take something messy & turn it into clear, doable actions You can. It’s called the OODA Loop Here’s how it works: 1️⃣ Observe → What’s happening right now? → Gather the data. Look for patterns. 2️⃣ Orient → What does this mean for you? → Filter the noise, and focus on the critical info. 3️⃣ Decide → What’s the next move? → Speed matters. Don’t overthink. 4️⃣ Act → Execute. Test. Adapt. → The faster your feedback loop, the smarter your decisions. Hesitation costs opportunities. Quick decisions build momentum. This framework gives you speed without sacrificing clarity.

Is speed a competitive differentiator? ABSOLUTELY!!! And more importantly—how are companies setting their reps up to win with speed? And how are reps actually practicing speed with intention? Last month, I was looking for a space to host my boys’ graduation party. I called a handful of venues. Some never called back. A few followed up days later. But one? Called me within the hour. Guess who I went with? Yep. The first one. 1️⃣ Why? Because they moved fast. They didn’t just respond—they helped shape the strategy. When you’re first, you set the tone. You define the plan. And now, any competitor that comes in later is reacting to your strategy—not leading with theirs. That’s a huge advantage. And if you’re wondering if this applies in B2B… it does. Big time. According to the Harvard Business Review article, “What Fast-Moving Companies Do Differently,” companies that move fast across two areas—speed of insight and speed of action—consistently outperform their competitors. Here’s what the data shows: * Companies that prioritize speed see stronger revenue growth and margin expansion * Fast-movers are 2x more likely to use real-time data and analytics to guide decisions So what does this mean for revenue teams? Companies should: *Remove roadblocks and decision bottlenecks * Give reps what they need to move fast * Listen to their reps and other front line employees: they are seeing things you are not * Build connected ecosystems to reduce time-to-market * Create a culture that rewards action And reps should: * Respond fast (don’t sit on that lead) * Get meetings on the books ASAP * Deliver on your word—on time * Collaborate internally to keep things moving * Ask your leaders to help clear the path. Sometimes it gets too darn hard to get things done internally and as a rep, it’s the most frustrating!!! How are you building for speed? As a company, as a leader, or as a rep—what’s one thing you’re doing (or could do) to move faster and win earlier? And if you need a reminder of what speed looks like… Watch the F1 clip below. That’s what it feels like when a fast-moving team hits its stride. #sales; #speed; #deals

90% of startups don’t fail because of: Bad marketing, a weak team, or even a poor product. They fail because they lack a repeatable decision-making process. Here’s the framework I use to make better, faster decisions in business. I call it “The Iteration Loop.” It’s a structured way to identify what’s working, what’s broken, and what to do next, without getting stuck in endless guesswork. It gives you a systematic way to eliminate bottlenecks, optimize execution, and scale with clarity. Here are the 6 phases: 1. Bottleneck Identification 2. Clarifying the Goal 3. Solution Brainstorming 4. Focused Execution 5. Performance Review 6. Iterate & Improve 1️⃣ Bottleneck Identification Before you can fix anything, you need to identify the real problem. Most entrepreneurs spin their wheels solving the wrong issues because they never dig deep enough. To get clarity, ask: + What's the biggest constraint stopping growth right now? + What metric, if doubled, would create the biggest impact? + What’s preventing us from getting there? If you don’t identify the root problem, every solution you apply will be wasted effort. 2️⃣ Clarifying the Goal Once you know the problem, define the exact outcome you’re solving for. I use a simple Three-Part Goal Formula: 1. What are we trying to achieve? 2. By when? 3. What constraints do we have? Vague goals lead to vague actions. Precision forces progress. 3️⃣ Solution Brainstorming Now, generate every possible solution—without filtering. Most people limit themselves to their existing knowledge, which is why they get stuck. Instead, ask: “If there were no rules, what would I do?” This opens up better, faster, and often simpler solutions you wouldn’t have otherwise considered. 4️⃣ Focused Execution Don’t test everything at once—test one variable at a time. Most teams waste months by making too many changes at once, leading to messy, inconclusive results. Instead, break it down: 1. Test one key assumption. 2. Measure one KPI that proves or disproves it. 3. Execute for a set period, then review. 4. Speed matters. Complexity kills momentum. 5️⃣ Performance Review Your data isn’t just numbers—it’s feedback on your decision-making process. Your job is to analyze: + Did the solution work? + Why or why not? + What does this tell us about our business? Every test refines your ability to make better future decisions. 6️⃣ Iterate & Improve Most companies don’t fail from making the wrong move—they fail from making no moves at all. The only way to win long-term is to keep iterating. Instead of fearing failure, build a culture that rewards learning. Failure + Reflection = Progress. If you aren’t improving your decision-making process, your business will eventually hit a ceiling. That’s why I built The Iteration Loop—so every problem becomes an opportunity for better, faster execution. P.S. If you want the scaling roadmap I used to scale 3 businesses to $100M and beyond, you can get it for free from the link in my profile.

Being in a high growth environment requires fast thinking and a clear operational framework. You can’t get boxed in by your roadmap, or paralyzed by over-planning. My suggestions: 1/ Act first, refine later The moment we decided to test something—a new pitch, a message tweak, a fresh approach—we used it immediately. On the next call. No waiting. No overthinking. Immediate execution gives you real-world data fast. 2/ Record & analyze We recorded everything; wins, failures, and emerging patterns. This helped the team see what works, what doesn’t, and how to improve. It turned execution into a repeatable process. 3/ Identify fast adopters and empower them Some team members could pick up on new ideas and run with them. We identified those leaders early on, and partnered with them to scale what worked across the team. 4/ Turn wins into playbooks Once we knew something worked, we codified it. Sales coaching, product marketing, onboarding—we made sure everyone could replicate the winning moves. What gets documented, scales. 5/ Hire for speed, not just skill The best leaders plan AND execute. They act fast and take ownership. The goal isn’t perfection. It’s to move fast, learn fast, and adapt even faster.