Leadership Decisions - Aditya Yadav

1. *
“Running an Agile Fortune 500 Company”
Aditya Yadav, aditya.yadav@gmail.com
in.linkedin.com/in/adityayadav76

2. * A Typical Global Company
* Fortune 500/1000
* 200 Divisions
* 40 Countries
* 25000 Employees
*

3. *
@ Acme Inc.

4. * Original Question “How can Managers be
generalists? we need super specialist Managers.
Isn‟t that the only way to make successful
decisions?”
* The Correct Question - “While there should be
Empowerment of the Teams, there are
sometimes when the Manager has to take
decisions. Lets see a framework of how a
Generalist Manager can take those
decisions, before jumping to conclusions. Shall
we?”
*

5. *
And The Philosophy Behind The Answer

6. * The Myth: You will be an Expert in everything
you have to take decisions concerning
* Even Generalists have limitations about what
they know and the extent to which they know
those things.
* The Reality: Specialist or Generalist - you have
to decide on things you don‟t know that well
* When extrapolated the conclusion is: Managers
don‟t have to be specialists. Leaders better not
be Specialists.
*

7. You have been asked to take a decision on something. Which is not your area of specialization. You have
read, discussed with experts, you have been presented facts and opinions before you. How do you decide?
1.
Conceptually make sense?
i.
ii.
iii.
iv.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
Scenario based Challenges?
What if micro-challenges?
Understand Limits!
Understand Exceptions!
Internal Model Integrity Checks
Categorize/Type every component? Does it still make sense?
Correlation vs Causality? Cause or Effect?
Quantum vs Proportion?
Significance and Impact?
Horizon – Niche, temporal, short/long term, universal
Reasoning - Anecdotal , Empirical or Fact
Quantitative & Qualitative Validations!
Sanity Sensibility and Consistency
*

8. * Do the arguments conceptually make sense in the given
context?
* What would happen if the situation changes to something
else? If the same solution was used
* What if? Some assumptions didn‟t hold true. What would be
the impact on the solution?
* What are the boundaries within which those assumptions and
solution hold?
* What are the things that the solution cannot address? Are you
cognizant of the limitations of the model and solution?
* Are the ideas used in the model and solution independent,
uncoordinated or adhoc‟ly put together? (integrity!)
*

9. * To analyze the model and solution, categorize everything in
the model e.g. x is a noun, y is a verb, z is an adjective or
e.g. x is the outcome, y is the input, z is the procedure, a is
the resource. Ask yourself does the solution still make sense?
* Is correlation and causality being confused? Do you know
better? How are they positioned on the timeline (cause‟s
come first) or there is a third thing/cause that‟s hidden and
came first…
* Quantum vs Proportion or simply (relative or absolute). Most
people make mistakes with whether they should take a
relative approach or make an absolute assessment. The rule
is - given capability „x‟ if y and z are very small then relative
improvements in y and z and between y and z should be
used. If y and z are comparable to x then absolute
considerations should be made.
*

10. * Sometimes the solution is immaculate but has little or no significant
*
*
*
relevance or impact. Or you should ignore it if the effort is huge in
comparison to the negligible outcome or benefit
Always ask yourself, what is the time horizon of applicability? Will
this work in the short term or long term. Is this a temporary fix or a
universal solution. Is this a practical tactical fix that will solve the
problem or a general theoretically sound solution?
Is the reasoning based on Facts, Anecdotes, Empirical observations or
Opinions? What needs to be checked before going with the solution?
How can you test and verify assumptions to get a higher probability
of success?
If the model and assumptions hold. What are the things they predict
will happen or not happen? Can you test for them? Quantitatively or
Qualitatively?
*

11. * Finally ask yourself
* Is this line of thinking insane?
* Finally take multiple third person perspectives and see
if it all still makes sense? What would a Sales manager
think of it? What would a Production Engineer think of
it? Customer think of it?
* And is it consistent with other things you do and say?
* If nobody is losing anything, why shouldn‟t we do it?
*…
* After you have answered all these questions…
* Its time to sign and approve the decision!
*

12. Aditya!!!
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