More than any other factor, an organization depends on the Executive Leadership Team, the Chief Executive Officer, and the Board of Directors to be capable of making the right decisions. As individuals and as work groups, this requires them to understand and practice using good judgment. What makes good judgement? This is our preferred model.

Whether it is financial results for a quarter, developing a new product, or assessing the competition, making a solid judgment requires collecting the data. At the executive level this means collecting the most relevant information. To leadership’s own peril, what may be ignored is information on the people side of an organization. This includes information on team chemistry, succession planning, family dynamics in privately held organizations, morale and more.

After collecting all the most relevant information, good judgment requires boiling down the information to its essence. From here, as a healthy leadership team steps into conflict and fights, the required actions come into focus. Fighting for the wrong reasons is just as dangerous as not having the passion to face conflict in a methodical and measured way.

After collecting the relevant information, and boiling it down the leadership team is ready to act. Action is not something to do when anxious or excited, taking action is the reward for exercising good judgment.