Tips to Improve Strategic Decision-Making

Using Data to Drive Strategy: To lead with confidence and achieve sustainable growth, businesses must lean into data-driven decision-making. When harnessed correctly, data illuminates what’s working, uncovers untapped opportunities, and de-risks strategic choices. But using data to drive strategy isn’t about collecting every data point — it’s about asking the right questions and translating insights into action. Here’s how to make informed decisions using data as your strategic compass. 1. Start with Strategic Questions, Not Just Data: Too many teams gather data without a clear purpose. Flip the script. Begin with your business goals: What are we trying to achieve? What’s blocking growth? What do we need to understand to move forward? Align your data efforts around key decisions, not the other way around. 2. Define the Right KPIs: Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) should reflect both your objectives and your customer's journey. Well-defined KPIs serve as the dashboard for strategic navigation, ensuring you're not just busy but moving in the right direction. 3. Bring Together the Right Data Sources Strategic insights often live at the intersection of multiple data sets: Website analytics reveal user behavior. CRM data shows pipeline health and customer trends. Social listening exposes brand sentiment. Financial data validates profitability and ROI. Connecting these sources creates a full-funnel view that supports smarter, cross-functional decision-making. 4. Use Data to Pressure-Test Assumptions Even seasoned leaders can fall into the trap of confirmation bias. Let data challenge your assumptions. Think a campaign is performing? Dive into attribution metrics. Believe one channel drives more qualified leads? A/B test it. Feel your product positioning is clear? Review bounce rates and session times. Letting data “speak truth to power” leads to more objective, resilient strategies. 5. Visualize and Socialize Insights Data only becomes powerful when it drives alignment. Use dashboards, heatmaps, and story-driven visuals to communicate insights clearly and inspire action. Make data accessible across departments so strategy becomes a shared mission, not a siloed exercise. 6. Balance Data with Human Judgment Data informs. Leaders decide. While metrics provide clarity, real-world experience, context, and intuition still matter. Use data to sharpen instincts, not replace them. The best strategic decisions blend insight with empathy, analytics with agility. 7. Build a Culture of Curiosity Making data-driven decisions isn’t a one-time event — it’s a mindset. Encourage teams to ask questions, test hypotheses, and treat failure as learning. When curiosity is rewarded and insight is valued, strategy becomes dynamic and future-forward. Informed decisions aren't just more accurate — they’re more powerful. By embedding data into the fabric of your strategy, you empower your organization to move faster, think smarter, and grow with greater confidence.

I was Wrong about Influence. Early in my career, I believed influence in a decision-making meeting was the direct outcome of a strong artifact presented and the ensuing discussion. However, with more leadership experience, I have come to realize that while these are important, there is something far more important at play. Influence, for a given decision, largely happens outside of and before decision-making meetings. Here's my 3 step approach you can follow to maximize your influence: (#3 is often missed yet most important) 1. Obsess over Knowing your Audience Why: Understanding your audience in-depth allows you to tailor your communication, approach and positioning. How: ↳ Research their backgrounds, how they think, what their goals are etc. ↳ Attend other meetings where they are present to learn about their priorities, how they think and what questions they ask. Take note of the topics that energize them or cause concern. ↳ Engage with others who frequently interact with them to gain additional insights. Ask about their preferences, hot buttons, and any subtle cues that could be useful in understanding their perspective. 2. Tailor your Communication Why: This ensures that your message is not just heard but also understood and valued. How: ↳ Seek inspiration from existing artifacts and pickup queues on terminologies, context and background on the give topic. ↳ Reflect on their goals and priorities, and integrate these elements into your communication. For instance, if they prioritize efficiency, highlight how your proposal enhances productivity. ↳Ask yourself "So what?" or "Why should they care" as a litmus test for relatability of your proposal. 3. Pre-socialize for support Why: It allows you to refine your approach, address potential objections, and build a coalition of support (ahead of and during the meeting). How: ↳ Schedule informal discussions or small group meetings with key stakeholders or their team members to discuss your idea(s). A casual coffee or a brief virtual call can be effective. Lead with curiosity vs. an intent to respond. ↳ Ask targeted questions to gather feedback and gauge reactions to your ideas. Examples: What are your initial thoughts on this draft proposal? What challenges do you foresee with this approach? How does this align with our current priorities? ↳ Acknowledge, incorporate and highlight the insights from these pre-meetings into the main meeting, treating them as an integral part of the decision-making process. What would you add? PS: BONUS - Following these steps also expands your understanding of the business and your internal network - both of which make you more effective. --- Follow me, tap the (🔔) Omar Halabieh for daily Leadership and Career posts.

The simple practice that has improved my decision making Shane Parrish from Farnam Street introduced me to decision journaling in 2019. What started as a simple concept has become one of my most valuable leadership tools. After years of making big decisions and wondering why some worked out better than others, I started doing something that felt almost too simple: writing them down. Not just the decision itself, but the assumptions behind it. For every major decision such as product launches, key hires and more, I document three things: 1. What decision we're making and why 2. What key assumptions are driving this decision 3. What outcomes we expect and by when Then, six months later, I revisit the journal. Not to judge past decisions, but to understand which assumptions were wrong and why. Where This Gets Really Powerful: Hiring I apply this to every senior hire. During interviews, I document what we think this person will excel at and what outcomes we expect. Six months later, during performance reviews, I compare the interview notes to reality. "We thought Sam would spike on innovation. She scored high in interviews. But looking at her first six months, where are the innovative ideas?" This isn't about being right or wrong—it's about calibrating my assessment skills. I've done this for every promotion and attrition too. When someone leaves, I go back to their original interview notes and ask: What did we think they'd be great at? What actually happened? The Compound Effect After two years of decision journaling, I can see my own blind spots clearly. I tend to underestimate implementation complexity. I overvalue certain interview signals. These insights don't just improve future decisions—they help me know when to seek different perspectives. The practice takes a few minutes per decision and has fundamentally changed how I think about leadership accountability. What systems do you use to improve your decision-making over time?

In tech, your most valuable asset isn't your latest gadget—it's your mind. But here's the thing: most of us aren't using our full mental capacity. We're running outdated software in our heads, relying on gut instincts when we should be leveraging critical thinking. Consider this: - 75% of successful IT projects had leaders with strong critical thinking skills. Only 25% of failed projects did. (Harvard Business Review) - 85% of tech leaders say critical thinking is the #1 soft skill for success, but only 30% feel adequately trained. (Global Knowledge) - Poor decision-making costs businesses 17% of revenue each year. (McKinsey) These aren't just numbers. They're a wake-up call. So, how do we upgrade our mental operating systems? Here are five strategies: 1. Cultivate Curiosity ↳ Ask the tough questions, don't just nod along. ↳ Challenge assumptions, especially your own. ↳ Poke holes in ideas like you're testing software. ↳ "What if...?" is your new default response. Use it often. ↳ Curiosity is for leaders who want to stay ahead. 2. Embrace Diverse Perspectives ↳ Seek out views that make you uncomfortable. ↳ Build a team that doesn't just echo your thoughts. ↳ The best solutions often come from unexpected places. 3. Practice Reflection ↳ Set aside time to review your decisions. ↳ What worked? What didn't? Why? ↳ Reflection isn't a luxury—it's a necessity for growth. 4. Develop Systems Thinking ↳ Everything's connected. ↳ Start seeing those connections. ↳ Map out problems. Visualize solutions. ↳ The big picture is made up of tiny pixels. See both. 5. Combat Cognitive Biases ↳ Slow down. ↳ Our brains love shortcuts, but shortcuts can lead to errors. ↳ Actively seek evidence that contradicts your beliefs. ↳ The most dangerous phrase in business? "We've always done it this way." Here's the challenge: Pick one of these strategies. Implement it this week. Then come back and share what you learned. Remember, in an AI-driven world, critical thinking isn't just a skill—it's your competitive edge. Are you ready to think differently? To lead differently? The future of tech leadership isn't about having all the answers. It's about asking the right questions. What's your next question?

You don’t lead strategy by presenting slides. You lead it by making it real. In conversations, decisions, priorities, and actions. If presenting the strategy were enough, execution efforts wouldn’t fail so often. Because if your team doesn’t understand and internalize your strategy with a shared understanding they won’t be able to execute it. I see this happen too often. Here are 5 practices that show what it really takes to lead beyond the slide deck: 1. 🗣️ Alignment is about the conversation, not a presentation. Strategy comes alive when people talk about it, connect it to their role and get clear about what it means for their daily decisions. As a leader, your job is to create the form and forum-where people can ask, “What does this mean for me?” and “How do I connect this in my role?” 2. 🎯 Align every meeting to the strategy. Every meeting you attend should tie directly to advancing your strategy. Stretching to make the connection? Maybe you shouldn’t be in that meeting. Or maybe the meeting shouldn’t be happening at all. As David Packard, co-founder of Hewlett-Packard once said, “More companies die of indigestion than starvation.” Strategy requires focus. 3. 🛑 Ruthlessly cut or minimize non-strategic work. This one’s personally hard. Smart, creative people are great at justifying why their project or idea is critical to the company success. But clever doesn’t  equal strategic. Pet projects, zombie initiatives, legacy efforts? If it doesn’t clearly move the strategy forward, cut it. Edinger’s rule: 5 (±2). Big initiatives. That’s your strategic load limit. Focus your resources on advancing the efforts that make the greatest impact. 4. 🗓️ Do a weekly strategy audit for your calendar. Tom Peters said it best: “The calendar never lies.” Look at how you actually spent your time this week. Was the majority of your focused attention on moving strategic priorities forward? Or did you spend too much energy and time on tactical or less valuable activities? Be honest. Where does your time go? Evaluate and adjust. 5. 🤝 Contact one prospect or customer each day. Some may want to start with one per week. No matter your role, stay close to the market. Strategy is useless if you can’t connect it to your prospects and customers. One of the most strategic leaders I ever worked with, Bob Dutkowsky started nearly every day with a customer call. During his time as a CEO of Tech Data, the business grew from $20B to $37B. Pro tip: Don’t just talk to customers who already like you, make sure you engage with prospects who have made the choice to work with competitors. Even one conversation per week can surface insights no dashboard will. Which of these 5 shifts will you focus on this month? Drop your pick in the comments or share how you’re already putting it into practice. 👇 #LIPostingDayJune #TheGrowthLeader #Leadership #StrategyExecution

You think your team has a productivity problem. But it’s actually suffocating under 18 months of "Decision Debt." According to Harvard Business Review’s report this month, most mid-to-large organizations are quietly accumulating a debt that doesn’t show up on the balance sheet, but erodes performance just the same. Decision debt refers to the backlog of unclear, postponed, or avoided decisions: the ones never fully made or made without full conviction that silently stall execution, exhaust leadership, and degrade cultural momentum. And here’s the real insight from the field: Teams don’t get stuck because they’re slow. They get stuck because they no longer trust what’s actually been decided. I’ve sat in rooms with brilliant C-suite operators who believe they’ve aligned on strategy, only to discover three weeks later that each function interpreted that strategy in entirely different ways because they never actually closed the decision. It was half-made. Lightly implied. Or left to "sort itself out." And over time, this compounds. Your meetings become more crowded. Your managers start hedging. Your top talent slows down, not because they lack drive, but because they no longer believe that movement will be backed. This is the emotional tax of decision debt and it’s one of the biggest unseen drags on culture, performance, and leadership energy. Here’s how I help executive teams clear decision debt in real time: 1. Run a Decision Ledger Audit List your last 10 strategic choices. Not the ones on paper — the ones you think are “settled.” Ask your team: When was it made? Who was in the room? What actions followed? You’ll be shocked at how many “decisions” were actually deferrals. 2. Install a “Revisit by Default” Rule Every quarter, force one round of decision re-validation. Don’t wait for a breakdown. Assume decay, not durability because context always moves faster than alignment. 3. Train for Decision Completion, Not Just Alignment Most teams are trained to discuss, not decide. Every conversation should end with this prompt: “What exactly did we decide, and what signal will we send downstream today?” 4.Track Energy, Not Just Outcomes Decision debt shows up in fatigue. If you feel tired after every leadership sync, check: are we solving something, or circling something we’re too afraid to commit to? Here’s what elite leadership teams do differently: They don’t just meet. They metabolize decisions. They resolve ambiguity at the root not after it becomes noise. If your org is moving slowly despite long hours and good people, the issue isn’t talent or tools, it’s likely unresolved decisions that no one’s had the language or courage to revisit. 📩 I coach executive teams to surface, confront, and clear decision debt at scale so clarity becomes a competitive advantage, not a luxury. If your team feels busy but directionless let’s rebuild the rhythm that gets decisions made, trusted, and followed. #Decisionmaking #leadership #Productivity

Steve Jobs (and Elizabeth Holmes) wore a black turtleneck. Zuckerberg only wore grey shirts. Obama stuck to blue or grey suits while president. Why did these 3 people at the top of their game decide to wear a uniform? To make better decisions. Let’s discuss: The average person makes 35,000 decisions per day. Yet a select few decisions drive the majority of the outcomes. Zuckerberg said he wanted to “make as few decisions as possible about anything except how to best serve this community (Facebook).” They all believed that brain power used on inconsequential things increased their decision fatigue and left less for the most important decisions. So, instead, they offloaded them with default choices. First, how do we know what decisions to prioritize? For me, they have to have a material cost of: 1. Time or time horizon (greater than 1 year) 2. Profits (greater than 10% change) 3. People (time, stress, etc) 4. Leverage (monetary & personally) I think of leverage in two ways. 1. Opportunities that expand your range of outcomes (new job that opens door to much larger book of business). 2. Opportunities that shrink your range of outcomes (closing in on debt limit). The "uniform" is only one strategy, and honestly a bit of a goofy one. So what other ways can we improve our decision-making? Here are 7 strategies for making better decisions: 1) Make big decisions early in your day As you get further and further into the day, the number of decisions we’ve made starts to deplete our energy. 2) Time block A day that’s not organized is a day that “disappears.” Time naturally goes to the route with the least resistance. Time blocking your most important tasks ensures they don’t get squeezed out. 3) Eisenhower Decision Matrix The Eisenhower Matrix has you label decisions by two categories: important and urgent. The 2x2 matrix creates four quadrants that allow you to see (and prioritize) the most important and urgent tasks. 4) Delegate authority Don’t just delegate tasks, but delegate “authority” too. Quit doing level 1-3 delegation when you should be doing levels 4-5 delegation: 1—Do as I say 2—Research and report 3—Research and recommend 4—Decide and inform 5—Act independently 5) Automate your decisions Follow the likes of Steve Jobs, Zuckerberg, and Obama and automate what doesn’t matter. These small decisions add up, so by removing the choice, you can allocate more time to what’s important. 6) Prioritize rest & sleep Lack of sleep leads to a similar impairment level as drinking to the legal limit. Prioritize: ▸ 6-8 hours of sleep per night ▸ a consistent bed & waketime 7) Eliminate the unessential That individual request seems innocuous. But all those little things add up. -see Eisenhower Matrix below Our goal with each solution is to reduce the number of inconsequential decisions we’re making so we can put more focus and energy into the major decisions. Reflect: am I making this decision in a depleted state or a full state?

Life rewards those who decide. Not those who wait. Here’s how to make the right call, fast 👇: 🧠 The Science of Decision-Making:  Research shows that overthinking drains our cognitive energy, reduces our confidence, and can even lead to worse decisions. On the other hand, decisive people tend to be more productive, confident, and successful.  👉🏻 If you want to speed up your decision-making process without sacrificing quality, these 6 proven strategies are the answer. 1️⃣ Set Clear Criteria:   ↳ Decide what’s most important before making the decision.  ↳ Is it speed, cost, quality, or alignment with your values?  ↳ Having a clear framework in place simplifies complex choices and eliminates options that don’t fit. 2️⃣ Use the 70% Rule:   ↳ Adopted by Jeff Bezos, the idea is to make a decision when you have 70% of the information you need.  ↳ Waiting for 90% often means missing opportunities.  ↳ Remember: No decision is perfect; most are reversible. 3️⃣ Limit Your Options:   ↳ Studies show that having too many options can lead to decision fatigue.  ↳ Narrow your choices down to 2 or 3 viable ones.  ↳ When in doubt, eliminate anything that isn’t a clear “yes.” 4️⃣ Apply the 5-Minute Rule:   ↳ If a decision is not life-altering, give yourself just 5 minutes to make it.  ↳ This forces you to trust your instincts and prevents you from getting bogged down in unnecessary details. 5️⃣ Pre-Decide with “If-Then” Plans:   ↳ Reduce decision fatigue by creating “If-Then” rules. For example, “If it’s a project under $1,000, then I’ll delegate it to my team.” ↳ This simplifies decision-making and speeds up your process. 6️⃣ Embrace Imperfection:   ↳ Fear of failure often slows us down.  ↳ Understand that mistakes are a part of growth.  ↳ Make peace with the fact that not every decision will be perfect, but every decision is an opportunity to learn. 📝 Why It Matters:   Faster decision-making means less stress, more productivity, and more time focusing on what truly matters.  It also builds confidence and decisiveness, which are key traits of effective leaders. ♻️ Your Turn:  What’s one decision-making tip that has helped you the most?  Share in the comments below, or tag someone who needs to read this. 📌 PS... “Indecision is the thief of opportunity.” - Jim Rohn 🚀 Follow Harry Karydes for more daily tips to engineer your ideal life through mindset, habits and systems.

Smart leaders don’t wait for clarity.  They create it. Here’s how. Decision-making is more than choosing between A and B. It’s about how we engage our brain’s processing systems—emotion, logic, and intuition—to move forward with confidence. Here’s a neuroscience-backed approach to making better decisions: 1. Pause Before You Decide WHY?  Stress narrows our thinking. DO: Take short pause—a deep breath or stepping away— to activate the prefrontal cortex and re-engage the part of the brain responsible for rational thinking. 2. Identify the Core Problem WHY? We focus on surface-level symptoms rather than the real issue. DO: Ask, "What’s actually at stake here?" 3. Engage Both Emotion and Logic WHY? Strong emotions can cloud judgment, but ignoring them leads to regret. DO:  Share your feelings with a trusted person so you can balance the emotional pull with objective facts. 4. Consult Trusted Perspectives WHY? It helps to hear other perspectives. DO:  Seek insights from people with different viewpoints. But beware of decision paralysis—advice should inform, not replace, your discernment. 5. Commit and Adjust WHY?  There’s rarely a perfect choice, only a best next step. DO:  Make the decision, assess the results, and be willing to pivot if needed. Great leaders don’t wait for certainty —they build clarity through action. What’s one decision-making strategy that has worked for you? ----- ♻️ Repost to share with your network 💡 Follow Julia LeFevre for more Leadership content 📢 DM or email me at julia@braverestoration for workshops, coaching and speaking

Your 90-day business plan is already wrong. (And that's perfectly fine) Here's what 20+ years working with elite performers taught me about the fatal flaw in business planning: The old way: • Spend months creating detailed plans • Build everything based on assumptions • Stick to the plan no matter what (see my "tough guy"leader post) • Focus on delivering based on your assumptions • Hope that you still create the you want The truth? This approach is backwards. As my friend Rebecca Homkes (London Business School, elite strategy advisor, author of Survive Reset Thrive) says: "Stop planning, start preparing." I learned this truth from 3 unexpected places: • Team sports  • Jazz • Martial Arts In all 3 domains, elite performers don't "plan" - they PREPARE. The difference? Planning assumes you can predict the future. Preparing faces the truth: you'll need to adapt. 🔥 Here's what elite leaders do differently: 1. Track beliefs & assumptions AND take a stand - Document what you believe will work - Update these beliefs as you learn - Adapt immediately when new data comes in - Teach everyone around them to do the same 2. Focus on impact over delivery - Define clear outcomes - Measure what matters - Adjust based on the real results you need so that you deliver VALUE 3. Build adaptable systems - Create strong fundamentals - Bias toward decisions, actions and testing hypothesis - Develop efficient communication that supports rapid adaptation 4. Use operating rhythms that drive progress - Unstoppable rhythm of proactive updates  - Weekly detach and reflect - Continuous improvement becomes automatic My favorite example? Football teams spend 90% of their time preparing. A "game plan" is built on preparing for situations, not predicting them. Coaches watch every play and adapt instantly. Players learn decision-making through preparation. But most businesses? They do the exact opposite: endless planning, analysis paralysis, and beautiful slide decks that rarely survive contact with reality. 🎯 The key insight: Stop trying to predict every detail or perfect your plans.  Start evolving systems that help you adapt. The results? • 2x faster execution (true story) • 50% less operational overhead (also true story) • Teams that thrive through uncertainty. What do you think? Are you spending too much time planning and not enough time preparing? --- 🔍 I'm running a FREE workshop series where I break down these concepts in more detail and show exactly how elite teams implement them.  We've got 25 slots filled I am keeping a few more open. Let’s set you up for a great 2025. Want an invitation? DM me.