I have found that most leaders do not like to make choices. They’d rather keep their options open. Choices force their hands, pin them down, and generate an uncomfortable degree of personal risk. I’ve also found that few leaders can truly define winning. They generally speak of short-term financial measures or a simple share of a narrowly defined market. In effect, by thinking about options instead of choices and failing to define winning robustly, these leaders choose to play but not to win. They wind up settling for average industry results at best.
