Decision Making

 

Sometimes...

We ask for input from people we respect to help formulate our final opinion, judgment, decision, and ultimate action but we should not feel inclined to use their input just because we asked for it.

I respect my wife's opinion for example, but I seldom use her advice...  my decision is made for a couple of reasons.  First, she does not understand me as well as she thinks she does.  Second, she is more cautious than I am about trusting people.

That second reason is important because of the word trust and what it is with which you are trusting them.

I would not trust anyone with a secret, I would want to keep, but as far as my opinion or what I have previous written down, like an article or a poem, I would trust damn near anyone with that.

The other issue that underlies all of this is that my wife worked in the rank and file all her career and I worked in management all of my career.  Each of those two areas have different mindsets and those mindsets influences one's personality and behavior.

I learned a long time ago that people who work in the rank and file, have very little power to make decisions; whereas those who work in management have the opportunity to make lots of decision.

I have worked in several management positions where I would ask my subordinates, also in management, for their opinions about an issue.  I knew and they knew that while they were giving me their opinions, I would be making the final decision, and I alone would have to live with the consequences of that decision.

One thing I learned early on was that subordinates always want your job and will say and do things to make you look bad; therefore, one must always take their advice lightly because one never knows when their advice in intentionally bad.

Now, I would never say, nor would I suggest that my wife's opinion was intentionally bad, but because of my training, those thoughts are always on my mind.