Decision Making

As a business owner it helps to be good at doing a lot of things, especially providing strong leadership for my staff. But no one starts out as a strong leader, especially me. I was really shy in High School and lacked confidence, so when I started my own business at age 25, I had a lot to learn along the way…and unfortunately sometimes I had to learn the hard way.

In order to become a good leader, I’ve read a lot of books and attended a lot of seminars.  But the best training has always come from watching and listening to the good leaders around me. How do you know someone is a good leader? There are lots of signs of strong leadership, like having good character, excellent communication skills, confidence and creativity in problem solving. But in my opinion there is one trait that stands out among all the rest – the courage to make the tough decisions. Good decision making is a crucial component of leadership but it’s also vitally important for all of us throughout every aspect of our daily lives, regardless of our job or social position.

Yesterday I was reading my Bible and came across Matthew’s story of the birth of Christ, which is kind of timely since Christmas is right around the corner. I read how Matthew describes Joseph as a “just man” and how that simple description sums up the reason he was picked to be the father of Jesus. Joseph didn’t necessarily hold an important position in Bethlehem, nor was he a rabbi or a priest. But he was obviously well respected and was probably proud of his standing in the community as a local businessman who was seeking to marry the love of his life. Everything was going great and then all of a sudden Mary whispers in his ear that she is pregnant. Joseph has to make the toughest decision of his life, back out of the marriage and protect his reputation, or continue with the wedding despite the potential damaging fallout. Talk about a tough decision! I can picture Joseph on his knees, worrying about God’s plan for his life, and praying for the courage to make the right decision. Notice how I said “praying for courage” instead of “praying for wisdom”. That’s because I’ve learned over the years that most of the time we know what the right decision is…we just need the courage to make it.

Having to make tough decisions is always going to be a big part of life. But maybe if we pray for courage, and are willing to put God’s plan ahead of our own, decision making will be a lot easier!

Decisions become easier when your will to please God outweighs your will to please the world.

~ Anso Coetzer