Decisions, decisions, decisions. It seems that leaders are always facing an endless string of decisions. I was reading a study the other day that claims the average adult in America makes about 35,000 decisions each day. That’s a lot of opportunities to be wrong! Of course most of the leadership decisions throughout our day are small ones and really inconsequential…right?
I’ve been meditating on Ephesians 5:15 where Paul says, “Be careful how you live.” At first glance I think “okay, got that one down, I can move on.” But what does he mean “be careful”. He uses the Greek word “blepo” which means “to look at something intensely or to examine something closely.” So he’s telling me to look closely, examine, do an honest evaluation of how I live my life. My days are a string of endless decisions: Some easy, some difficult, some big, and some microscopic.
For many leaders it’s not the big decisions that hurts them, it’s making the wrong small decisions repeated over time that corrode character, reputation, team unity, morale, and spiritual vibrancy. It’s those small decisions that have seemingly little significance that can injure a leader the most. So if you don’t feel you are being respected, listened to, or valued by your followers perhaps it’s time to “examine carefully” your daily leadership decisions.
Remember the small decisions you make today are adding up to make a big difference.
