Build: An Unorthodox Guide to Making Things Worth Making

by Tony Fadell

We made decisions. I made decisions. This is in. This is out. This is how it’s going to work. Not everyone on the team agreed with me. That’ll happen sometimes when one person has to make the final call. In those moments it’s your responsibility as a manager or a leader to explain that this isn’t a democracy, that this is an opinion-driven decision and you’re not going to reach the right choice by consensus. But this also isn’t a dictatorship. You can’t give orders without explaining yourself. So tell the team your thought process. Walk through all the data you looked at, all the insights you gathered, and why you ultimately made this choice. Take people’s input. Listen, don’t react. There may be a minority of team members who agree with the decision; there might be some good feedback that makes you modify your plan. If not, give the speech: I understand your position. Here are the points that make sense for our customers, here are the ones that don’t. We have to keep moving and, in this instance, I have to follow my gut. Let’s go. Even if some people on your team don’t love that answer, they’ll respect it. And they’ll trust you—they’ll know that they can speak up and criticize your choices and not get immediately shot down. And then they can sigh, and shrug, and go back to their team, communicate the “why” of the decision, and get on the train. That’s what’s always worked for me. It’s how my team at Philips came to accept my decisions.