Faster decision making by caring less

Red heart

Soloists are generally 110% passionate about what they’re doing. Passion is a good thing, right? Maybe not when it comes to effective decision making.

The solo business owner = 110% care factor

They are emotionally involved in every project, passionately committed to achieving results and personally responsible for all decisions. In short, they are determined to get it 100% perfectly right.

Big business client = 95% care factor

Generally they are less emotionally involved in the project, very committed – but not so much passionate – about achieving results and have other people to bounce their decisions off. In short, they want the project completed well and they want it off their desk.

Passion is a good thing, right? Well yes, but sometimes it can strangle action.

Many marketing initiatives I have observed move quickly to start with. The brief is taken, concepts drawn up and drafts delivered for review. Everyone’s happy so far. Then it’s only on the final 5% that things start to stall.

Tell us what you think: rate this article

Tweaking, reviewing, analysis, adding more information, waiting for the right time or indecision all start to creep in, and the final touches to the project stretch into weeks. This is an attempt to make sure everything is 100% ready for launch.

The fact is, many a timely campaign or sharp idea has been watered down during these final ‘perfection’ stages. Rarely will the planets align for the 100% perfect environment and often the final few percent can take longer than the rest put together. So not only will you be achieving very little, you may be making things worse!

In a corporate environment, ranting bosses, fixed deadlines, fast-moving competitors and a slightly lower care factor combine to keep things moving forward – “let’s get it out the door!”

With solo businesses on a much tighter budget, it is even more important that you don’t waste time and money on something without a return, i.e. wasting it on labouring over the last few percent.

When you care just a little less, things start to happen. You’ll become more focused on getting the initiative out the door, you’ll make swifter decisions and the project will gain momentum. In short, it will actually happen and you’ll be onto the next one.

And let’s face it, 95% perfect is 1000% better than a killer idea that sits idly in your ideas folder.

Just pretend you’re back in the corporate world with a boss that says “I don’t give a X@#$ what else you’ve got on, just have something on my desk by Thursday morning!”

I’m all for passion, but too much can sometimes be a handbrake.

Is there something you need to loosen your grip on?

Peter Crocker is a director of Flying Solo responsible for the areas of marketing and advertising. He is a business copywriter specialising in websites, videos and marketing communications.

2 comments | Add your own

Hi there, loved your article on Passion and how we get all tied up in knots (my words, not yours...) about dotting the i's and crossing the t's...I am a freelance copywriter and I have had quite few great ideas that have ground to a halt because i haven't known the EXACT perfect thing to do to finish it. Karen Zaskolny from Adelaide, South Australia
Spot On ! We aren't perfect, we're humans so although we try to do everything perfectly, sometimes we need to settle for the best that we can do and move on ! Grant Hyman from Sydney | Read my articles

2 comments | Add your own

Add Your comments

Preview comment

Name

Website *

Town / city and country

Email (never sold, displayed or given away)

* This will link your name to your site. So please avoid self promotion elsewhere! We delete spam, disrespectful or off-topic comments.