Evaluating the Importance of Decision Making Successful decision making is one that is devoid of any ambiguity or tentativeness. Although there is a wide range of choice and alternative techniques to arrive at a decision, timely decision making is what adds value to the decision. The objective is to execute the action plan immediately to avoid delays that might prove costly in terms of productivity. Defensive behavior of managers: Managers who are the key figures to make decisions sometimes play defense to avoid action, blame or change. They exhibit a variety of defensive behaviors which is a wasted effort; this also makes the workers lethargic in their attitude. Avoiding action is considered to be the best political strategy. Some managers always talk about the rules and regulations that have been followed for ages in that company and want every action to be rigidly adhered to the precedence and neither allows nor admits the need to consider the nuances of a particular case. Policies and Procedures: Policies and procedures are of course the prerogative of the top level management, but it is the duty of the manager to suggest reforms in those policies that are obsolete by bringing it to the perusal of the ultimate authorities. How long will you sing the same song “The rules clearly state that”! Also don’t try to pass the buck or play duals, that clearly showcases your inability to handle things and nobody nowadays is prepared to believe false pretense. Expectation of Sub-Ordinates from the Superiors: Subordinates look up to their superiors for support as well as quick solutions for problems of any kind that comes their way; only a person who is quick in reacting to situations with presence of mind and consideration is well liked by and approved of. If you distance yourself from problems or try to prolong a task in lieu of your inability to make a decision, in the short run it might prove helpful in covering up making you look busy and productive. But what happens in the long run? It leads to organizational rigidity and stagnation in terms of productivity and a sag in the morale of the employees. Fifty Models for Strategic Thinking  Playing it Safe is not Always Safe: Playing safe is not always safe. Some managers always like to lead a team that has taken up viable projects with a high probability of success. There is no pain but lots of gain. This tactics makes you devoid of risk taking -which according to me is the prime and supreme quality that a manager or a team leader must possess or at least try to develop. Also taking a neutral position in #conflict situations makes you a dull leader and not a person to be much sought after. What is the result of Poor Decision Making? The first and foremost thing that managers have to understand and admit is that, poor decision making is the root cause of failed course of action. They should have the guts to admit and take up the responsibility for the negative outcome and not to seek some strategically helpless defense mechanisms. Making others a scapegoat for your helplessness doesn’t shield you for long but puts you in the defending territory forever. Ddefensiveness delays decisions, affects organizational success, sets a bad precedence, increased group conflicts, interpersonal tensions and leads to unreliable evaluations. The long and short of the discussion clearly highlights the importance of recruiting not only a qualified manager but a committed and reliable person who has the ability to take risks and tackle crisis situations with ease and steer the organization smoothly without any hitches by greasing it...

Profile of a successful leader Adaptive Capabilities:  Leaders need to radically change their mindset so as to stand the test of time; but the core leadership attributes like vision or creativity, intelligence, commitment, and a healthy dose of luck still continue to define the pre-requisites of success. Integrity of  Character is most important when talking about successful leadership. The philosophical undercurrent is that “Be Good, Do Good” and you will be good. The motive must be devoid of mistakes though there is room for mistakes in judgment. Leaders must have a clear vision and be able to communicate this vision to others so that it becomes a shared vision and everybody willingly contributes in fulfilling the vision. Six ‘C’s or six criteria that determine a leader’s credibility  Conviction Character Care Courage Composure Competence Cross-Functional Expertise – Acquisition of knowledge should make a leader humble and flexible and gaining knowledge must be seen as a life long experience rather than collection of voluminous data or skills. A leader will try to apply his broad functional knowledge and expertise in the right places and the results will be definitely magnificent. A leader must look into the possible options rather than to plan, the possible rather than the perfect, involvement instead of obedience. Change is the only entity that remains unchanged and it is inevitable for the leaders to consider change as the core element of growth. With accelerated pace of change in the economic, political and socio-cultural environment, leaders not only need to acquire new knowledge and skills but they also need to unlearn many of the things that have out-grown their purposes. Leaders should follow the CODE OF PRIDE to motivate the workforce. P– PROVIDE FOR A POSITIVE WORKING ENVIRONMENT R– RECOGNISE EVERYONE’S EFFORTS I– INVOLVE EVERYONE D– DEVELOP SKILLS AND POTENTIAL E– EVALUATE AND MEASURE CONTINUOUSLY In large corporate organizations, the leader must be willing to share power and control so that leadership is encouraged at various levels. Successful leaders are those who are self-motivated by setting their own standards and compete with themselves. Innovation is the need of the hour What do you mean by innovation? Creating something new or modifying the old one. Here the term innovation implies the change in the “THOUGHT PROCESS” of leaders who are able to turn a crisis into an opportunity. Also called as “THINKING OUT OF THE BOX” where a leader finds new application for old ideas which cannot be discarded or dis-regarded. “You must learn from your past mistakes but not Lea(r)n on your past successes”. High achievers take moderate risks calculating the circumstances and they rely on their own abilities unlike low achievers who invariably like to minimize risks or take wild and irrational risks. Running a corporate business has become more like an experiment since we cannot control or predict the future. It is highly unstable and unpredictable. So leaders have to cope up with this non-linear force acting in the external environment building up pressure. Leaving things as they are can be just as predictable as changing everything, you lose or win both ways. Now let us look at some of the definitions of Leadership 1. “Leadership is generally defined as influencing people so that they will strive willingly towards the achievement of group goals.”- Koontz and O’Donnell 2.  “Leadership is the lifting of man’s visions to higher heights, the raising of man’s performance to higher standards, the building of man’s personality beyond its normal limitations.”- Peter F.Drucker 3. “Leadership is the ability to secure desirable actions from a group of followers voluntarily without the use of correction.”- Alford and Beatty 4. “Leadership refers to the quality of the behavior of individuals where by they guide people on their activities in organized efforts.”- Chester I.Bernard  Behavioral Commitments of a Leader: Challenging the process Challenging the status quo and act as radical change agents Inspiring others by being pioneers, instigators, navigators and learners Showing risk-taking ability,...

Who is an Entrepreneur? An entrepreneur is one with long term vision, creativity, uniqueness and the most conspicuous feature is undoubtedly his risk taking ability. He embarks on uncertain investments and also possesses an unusually minimal level of uncertainty aversion. He always comes out with brilliant business ideas since he is open to new information available in the rapidly changing business environment; this also facilitates self-directed and independent decisions aiding in quick growth maximization of the business enterprise. Concept of Entrepreneurship Entrepreneurship is all about action that involves opportunity exploitation and venture creation. The concept of entrepreneurship is becoming increasingly popular in developing countries as it tends to promote economic growth of a nation. “No entrepreneur, no development,” is the kind of significance attached with entrepreneurialism. Who is an Entrepreneur Though entrepreneurship is an individual’s free choice activity, it emerges and functions in a social and cultural setting. An entrepreneur must be prudent in choosing a business activity that will be supported and valued by the society and that which improves his economic standards. Consumers are always on the look-out for a product or a service that is different but unique. This proves to be an advantage for an entrepreneur to exploit the unexplored niches of the market segment. An entrepreneur has to observe and act upon opportunities that are unusual but promising. He has to study the pros and cons of a project in terms of capital investment, plant layout, production facility, labor availability, market proximity, demography, people’s preference and economic viability. The distinct features of an entrepreneur for a better understanding: Persistence and perseveranceResourcefulness to take the business activity to the next levelEternal quest for knowledgeQuality consciousSystematic planningSelf-confidenceDaringCrisis management with easePersuasion –capability to convince the customers and othersStrategy king Excellent communication skills Proficiency in a variety of subjects and disciplinesTo them , work is passionNonchalance and the like. It is the combination of body of knowledge, set of skills and cluster of appropriate motives that makes an entrepreneur a star performer. He is the pivot about which all other factors of production, productive resources and techniques revolve. Innovativeness, risk taking ability and proactiveness are the three dimensions fundamental to the concept of entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurship is a way of thinking, reasoning and acting that is opportunity obsessed (Timmons). Lakshmi Mittals and Warren Buffets belong to this category where in they have created value through recognition of business opportunities. https://www.instagram.com/p/B-t7sPKHkq4/ Follow YoungHstlrs and Entrepreneurzone for Business and Entrepreneurship...