The Art of Making Tough Decisions

An interview with investor, entrepreneur andphilanthropist Mouli CohenConducted by Journalist ________

Making The Right Decisions

How do you make the right decision?

Many of us think that good decisions are based primarily oncoming up with an effective strategy and then executing on it.It's true that having a sound strategy is very important whenaddressing a challenging problem but I can say withconfidence that the best-and hardest-decisions I ever madewere all about people.No matter how smart I am or how successful I have been inthe past I cannot know the future. Therefore I must have theright partners along the way who can help me make the toughdecisions.

Encouraging Debate

Do you challenge your partners to help youcome up with the right answer?

In my companies I strongly encourage people to disagree withme. I like to create this culture of constructive debate & skepticism within all of my organizations.I pull in my best people and challenge them to debate theproblem from all angles. Making decisions by consensus,however, never works. Ultimately, the decision is the CEO's tomake and he/she has to be willing to take a risk and make thetough call. I cannot stress enough, however, the importanceof having people debate and challenge you. If you don't dothis you risk cutting yourself off from hearing options or ideasthat might be better.