Is it time to cut off your other options?
It's the most common conversation I ever have with business leaders...
In 1519, Hernandez Cortez landed his army on the coast of the New World and immediately set about burning his ships. Breathe that in for a minute! Can you imagine? How would you feel as one of his foot soldiers, stranded in the New World with no means to EVER get back to your home and family. Cortez removed the choice of everyone to go back. It ultimately secured the commitment of his invasion force to focus on what was in front of them, not to look back.
Not being a pyromaniac, I'm not suggesting that anyone should burn anything other than charcoal but nevertheless, it's an extreme example of what defines a decision. You might already know, De-Cision in Latin means to cut off. But do we really? As leaders do we ever 'cut off' all other options?
Is it time to burn your boats?
Leadership and strategy are all about making tough decisions, setting out an ambition, steering a course to climb your mountain, and leading your team to achieve it. For those of us that would always choose to err on the side of caution, the biggest risk is to bleed your effort and budget dry by doing too many things at the same time. In the case of business, TWO is too many things.
A quick story... I was writing my first book 'Agilization' (ghastly title I know!) and I had the opportunity to meet one of the top publishers in London to get it published. Naturally, I was a quiver with excitement about the meeting. I stepped into a neat office smelling that delicate odour of books and coffee thinking to myself 'this is the life.' To one side of the room was a towering bookcase (no surprise) filled with the books this talented woman had launched to stardom. Not too many names on there I didn't know. We introduced and the conversation began. She dropped a line I will never forget--'Ian you are going to be a great writer, but not with this book.' I was floored. But then she explained, my problem was I had two stories blended together in my book. It was a fantastic learning lesson.
Like any book, your business can only have one story. Otherwise, you will lack the clarity of purpose you need to reach your goal. As a leader, your challenge is to work out what that story is--but don't think by not picking one you are reducing your risk. You are amplifying it. You will bleed your resources dry, muddle your agenda, and confuse the hell out of your shareholders, team and customers.
You can almost always go back to that point and try again if you learn from your experience and decide on another path. Better to fail hard and fast than suffer death from a thousand cuts.