Careful observation of the business philosophy of more than one hundred men and women who have attained outstanding success in their respective callings, disclosed the fact that each was a person of prompt and definite decision.
The habit of working with a definite chief aim will breed in you the habit of prompt decision, and this habit will come to your aid in all that you do.
One of the major requisites for Leadership is the power of quick and firm DECISION!
Analysis of more than 16,000 people disclosed the fact that Leaders are always men of ready decision, even in matters of small importance, while the follower is NEVER a person of quick decision.
The follower, in whatever walk of life you find him, is a man who seldom knows what he wants. He vacillates, procrastinates, and actually refuses to reach a decision, even in matters of the smallest importance, unless a Leader induces him to do so.
Now, I will tell you in a very few words exactly why you are defeated: IT IS BECAUSE YOU DO NOT HAVE THE POWER TO REACH A DECISION! All your life you have been forming the habit of dodging the responsibility of reaching decisions, until you have come, now, to where it is well-nigh impossible for you to do so.
If you will think over what I have said I am sure you will acknowledge that it has become a habit with you to dodge the responsibility of reaching clear-cut decisions on practically all matters that affect you.
The man who was ready is the man who has prepared himself. He has studied beforehand the possible situations that might arise; he has made tentative plans covering such situations. When he is confronted by the emergency he is ready to meet it. He must have sufficient mental alertness to appreciate the problem that confronts him and the power of quick reasoning to determine what changes are necessary in his already formulated plan. He must also have the decision to order the execution and stick to his orders.
Any reasonable order in an emergency is better than no order. The situation is there. Meet it. It is better to do something and do the wrong thing than to hesitate, hunt around for the right thing to do and wind up by doing nothing at all. And, having decided on a line of action, stick to it. Don’t vacillate. Men have no confidence in an officer who doesn’t know his own mind.
Leadership is a composite of a number of qualities. [Just as success is a composite of the fifteen factors out of which this Reading Course was built.] Among the most important I would list Self-confidence, Moral Ascendency, Self-Sacrifice, Paternalism, Fairness, Initiative, Decision, Dignity, Courage.
Consideration, courtesy and respect from officers toward enlisted men are not incompatible with discipline. They are parts of our discipline. Without initiative and decision no man can expect to lead.
The chief reason why the follower does not reach decisions is that he lacks the Self-confidence to do so.
The selection of a definite chief aim calls for the use of both imagination and decision! The power of decision grows with use. Prompt decision in forcing the imagination to create a definite chief aim renders more powerful the capacity to reach decisions in other matters.
Adversities and temporary defeat are generally blessings in disguise, for the reason that they force one to use both imagination and decision. This is why a man usually makes a better fight when his back is to the wall and he knows there is no retreat. He then reaches the decision to fight instead of running.
The imagination is never quite so active as it is when one faces some emergency calling for quick and definite decision and action.
In these moments of emergency men have reached decisions, built plans, used their imagination in such a manner that they became known as geniuses. Many a genius has been born out of the necessity for unusual stimulation of the imagination, as the result of some trying experience which forced quick thought and prompt decision.
It is a well known fact that the only manner in which an over pampered boy or girl may be made to become useful is by forcing him or her to become self-sustaining. This calls for the exercise of both imagination and decision, neither of which would be used except out of necessity.
Men of decision usually get all that they go after!
The man of DECISION cannot be stopped! The man of INDECISION cannot be started! Take your own choice.
THE SUCCESSFUL MEN AND WOMEN ARE THOSE WHO REACH DECISIONS QUICKLY AND THEN STAND FIRMLY BY THOSE DECISIONS AFTER THEY ARE MADE.
The world will forgive you if you make mistakes, but it will never forgive you if you make no DECISIONS,
No matter who you are or what may be your lifework, you are playing checkers with TIME! It is always your next move. Move with quick DECISION and Time will favor you. Stand still and Time will wipe you off the board.