Hard Decisions You Need to Make - Part 2
How to set the tone for your organisation and sustain your energy as a leader.
In Part 1 of this series, I wrote about the decisions that shape people and teams:
Deciding whether to let someone go
Deciding how high to hold the quality bar
Deciding whether to promote someone
Deciding how to lead through uncertainty
In this second part, we’ll focus on the decisions that shape your culture and yourself as a leader. These are the ones that set the tone for how your team operates day-to-day and how you sustain your own energy to lead well.
Here is Part 2: Decisions That Shape Culture & Yourself
5. Deciding when to challenge up and when to commit
In executive leadership groups, your job is to speak up, shape the solution, and then stand behind the final decision no matter the outcome. This is about building shared success together within the senior leadership team. When you facilitate the discussions well in this group, you will also be able to better communicate the decision with your team.
Here are some tips on how to navigate the conversation with senior stakeholders when you are not aligned on a decision:
Ask questions. Turn unclear requests into user or business problems.
Propose options. Say, “Here are three ways we could solve that, with tradeoffs.”
Use prototypes or data to ground the conversation.
Bring the user’s voice into the room. Make it about impact, not opinions.
Say yes to the intent, not always the tactic. “I see what you are aiming for. Here is how we can get there.”
At Pixar, Ed Catmull and his team built a culture where leaders weren’t expected to have all the answers, they were expected to create the conditions where the best ideas could emerge. One of the most powerful rituals they used was the Braintrust: a regular session where directors shared films that were a work-in-progress with a trusted group of peers. Everyone in the room had permission to give unfiltered, candid feedback. The power dynamic was intentionally flattened. The goal wasn’t consensus or hierarchy. It was to protect the idea by inviting tough truths in a space of safety. As Catmull writes:
“The Braintrust is most effective when people can speak with candor and when the director sees it as a tool, not a threat.”
(Creativity, Inc.)
To build a leadership culture that encourages shared decision-making takes intentionality on your part:
Set the context
Invite honest challenge
Protect space for disagreement
Elevate the work, not people’s egos.
However, there will be times when despite all of this the path forward is a decision you do not fully agree with. You have debated. You have clarified. You can understand the reasons behind the decision, even though it isn’t your preferred direction.
At this point, your job is to commit and lead the way. Do not distance yourself or caveat the decision when you communicate it to your team. Instead, focus on making it successful. Execute it with clarity and care. Give it a fair shot and gather learnings along the way.
6. Deciding on what you celebrate and what you tolerate
Your culture is shaped by what you celebrate and what you tolerate. How you respond when things go wrong or right is how you build trust and safety.
It is an active choice: to protect your team’s reputation and advocate for their work. When your team sees that you do this consistently, they will take more risks and speak up earlier. Here is some things you can do:
When things go wrong, take the responsibility in public. Own the mistakes. Say what you learned and what you will change.
When things go right, redirect praise and give credit away.
Correct credit mistakes immediately.
Promote and reward the people who raise others up.
Do not tolerate toxic behaviour, even from high performers. (Someone who takes all the credit, someone who critiques others publicly without care, or a senior person who does not invest in others growth) These actions may be subtle, but they cost the team.
Build and protect your team culture by setting clear standards together with your leadership team. Promote and reward the people who help others shine.
7. Deciding when you must be the one to decide
There will be moments when the team is stuck; data unclear, opinions strong, stakes high. Consensus won’t emerge. Remember, your job is not to make everyone happy. It is to make the best call you can and own it.
Here is how to do that well:
Facilitate the debate. Let all voices be heard.
Use specific constraints or “show your work” rituals, like sketches, or draft memos and ground the conversation in something tangible, not just opinions.
Capture tradeoffs. Write down what you are gaining and losing.
Decide based on principles and context.
Explain your decision clearly. “Here is what we are doing and why.”
Set a revisit point. “We will recheck this after launch or learning.”
People will respect clarity and forward motion. When you show the reasoning behind a direction, even if imperfect, it will invite participation rather than resistance.
9. Deciding to prioritise yourself and your needs
As you grow into more senior roles, feedback becomes rare. People look to you for stability even when you feel uncertain. That’s why your motivation and well-being must become an intentional part of your job.
Here is how to manage it:
Build your own brain trust inside and outside the company. Have a group of people that you can share things openly and be inspired by ideas.
Reflect weekly on what’s working, what feels off and what values feel stretched.
Set boundaries that protect your time and energy.
Be open about your energy and motivation. Let your team see that you are human too. When you model vulnerability, you give others permission to be real too.
Reconnect to your purpose before burnout hits.
Sustain your energy and clarity by creating your own support system. Know when to rest, when to reflect and when to ask for help. You need to be grounded enough to ground others.
Final Thoughts
These are the quiet decisions that shape your leadership, they are where your values turn into action. In my next article, I will share how to have the hard conversations these decisions require:
How to adapt your message based on background, culture, or style.
How to land feedback with clarity and care.
How to hold truth and empathy in the same conversation.
Leadership is not one size fits all. It is communication with context. And that is what we will unpack next.