Leadership Horizons
This podcast aims to help leaders understand current and future leadership trends and encourage leaders to explore their horizons and understand the skills that will help them become even more successful moving forward.
Welcome to Leadership Horizons, where we explore leadership at its most transformative through two unique perspectives. I am Lois Burton, an executive coach and leadership development specialist and I've witnessed first hand how great leadership can transform organizations across sectors - from global corporations to public services, from manufacturing to the arts.
"Each week, I'll bring you either an in-depth conversation with a visionary leader who's redefining what's possible..."
"...or be inviting you to join me for focused explorations of critical leadership themes, where I'll share proven strategies and insights from my years of leadership development experience and research."
"Leadership Horizons, helping you to lead beyond boundaries -- Because the future of leadership knows no bounds. I'm looking forward to you joining me there"
Leadership Horizons
Bold Decision Making and Managing Risks
What separates transformative leaders from everyone else? The ability to make bold decisions while intelligently managing risk in an increasingly complex world.
This critical leadership skill isn't about recklessness—it's about seeing possibilities others miss and having the courage to pursue them despite uncertainty.
Bold decisions stem from deep insight, not impulse. They require an expansive vision that sees around corners and detects weak signals of change before they become obvious.
Developing this vision demands diverse information sources, protected time for reflective thinking, and robust scenario planning. Paradoxically, effective risk management doesn't constrain boldness—it enables it by creating confidence to move forward amid uncertainty.
The game-changing mindset shift comes when we move from prediction to learning. Instead of trying to forecast an unpredictable future, design decisions that create rapid learning cycles. Break big moves into smaller experiments, establish clear metrics, and build feedback loops for quick course corrections. This approach embraces boldness while managing risk, allowing forward movement with confidence.
Courage—that essential emotional dimension of bold decision-making—isn't fixed; it's a skill you can develop. By understanding the physiology of fear, clarifying your deeper purpose, building confidence through preparation, and creating supportive structures, you can act despite uncertainty.
The Bold Decision Blueprint integrates these principles into a practical five-step framework: expand vision, clarify commitment, map risks, design for learning, and mobilize support.
What bold decision are you currently delaying? What possibility do you see that others might miss? The world needs leaders who can make bold moves in uncertainty. I believe you can be that kind of leader.
Leadership Horizons - Helping You Lead Beyond Boundaries
Welcome to Leadership Horizons. I'm Lois Burton, an executive coach and leadership specialist, passionate about helping leaders become the best they can be, and today we're diving into something that every leader faces. Yet many struggle with Bold decision making and managing risk in an increasingly complex world. Today's topic strikes at the heart of what separates transformative leaders from the rest their ability to make bold decisions while intelligently managing risk In a world of increasing complexity and rapid change. This skill has never been more critical. And rapid change this skill has never been more critical. Let me ask you this when was the last time you made a truly bold decision as a leader, one that made your heart race, one that pushed you beyond your comfort zone? And, perhaps more importantly, how did you approach the risks involved? The relationship between boldness and risk is fascinating. Too often, we see them as opposing forces Boldness pushing us forward, risk pulling us back. But what if we reframe this perspective? What if boldness and risk management were actually complementary skills that, when mastered together, create extraordinary results? Let's begin by examining what we mean by bold decision making. Bold decisions aren't simply about taking risks for the sake of it. They're about seeing possibilities others miss and having the courage to pursue them despite uncertainty.
Speaker 1:I recently worked with a director in the manufacturing sector who faced a critical decision. Their industry was changing, with new technologies threatening to make their core products obsolete within five years. The conventional wisdom was to slowly diversify while maximizing profits from existing product lines. But this leader saw something different product lines. But this leader saw something different an opportunity to completely reimagine their business model. The decision they and their team made was very bold to invest 40% of their resources into an entirely new technology platform, effectively competing with themselves before others could. The risks were enormous failure could mean the end of a 50-year-old company, but the potential reward was even greater Establishing market leadership in the emerging space. What made this decision truly bold wasn't just the stakes involved. It was the clarity of vision behind it.
Speaker 1:Bold decisions stem from deep insight, not impulse. They arise when leaders can see beyond current conditions to emerging possibilities. This brings us to our first key principle Bold decisions require expansive vision. You cannot make truly bold moves if you're only looking at what's directly in front of you. The leaders who make history-changing decisions are those who can see around corners, who can detect weak signals of change before they become obvious to everyone. So how do you develop this expansive vision.
Speaker 1:I've found three practices particularly effective. Firstly, cultivate diverse information sources. If you're only listening to people who think like you, you're creating an echo chamber that reinforces existing perspectives. Seek out different viewpoints. Engage with experts from completely different fields. Some of the most innovative insights come from cross-pollination between industries and, as we spoke about last week, you can use AI tools appropriately to help you do this. Secondly, and really importantly, create the space for reflective thinking.
Speaker 1:Bold decisions rarely emerge from packed calendars and back-to-back meetings. They require mental space, time when you can step back, connect the dots and allow insights to surface, and I know that many of you will be listening to this and thinking if only, how do I escape from that packed calendar and back-to-back meeting? I am going to talk more about this next week, about how to beat overwhelm, but many of the leaders I coach now schedule regular thinking time in their calendars and they protect it. I will be honest, they probably don't protect it every single time, but with many of the people I'm working with, they say they are really getting there to be able to protect that thinking time 60 to 70% of the time and those protected hours where they disconnect from operational demands to focus on strategic thinking are so, so valuable.
Speaker 1:Thirdly, practice scenario planning. This isn't just about imagining best and worst cases. It's about training your mind to navigate complex possibilities. What might happen if multiple variables change simultaneously? How might seemingly unrelated trends converge to create new opportunities or threats? And again, as we spoke about last week, utilize the AI tools, which.
Speaker 1:Now let's talk about the other side of the equation managing risk. When we talk about bold decision making, we're not advocating recklessness. Quite the opposite. The boldest decisions are often those where risks have been thoroughly understood and intelligently managed. This brings us to our second key principle Risk management enables boldness. Counter to what many believe, effective risk management doesn't constrain bold action. It enables it by creating the confidence to move forward in uncertainty.
Speaker 1:Let me share another example. A coach I'm working with faced a significant decision about expanding into an emerging market. The conventional approach would have been to build a detailed business case with projected returns, then make either a go or a no-go decision. Instead, they took a different approach. They identified the key assumptions their success would depend on Customer adoption rates, identified the key assumptions their success would depend on Customer adoption rates, regulatory responses, competitive reactions and designed small experiments to test each one. Rather than making one big leap, they created a series of strategic stepping stones, each providing critical learning before the next investment. This approach genuinely transformed how they thought about risk. Instead of trying to predict an unpredictable future, they created a pathway to learn their way forward, validating or disproving key assumptions with minimal exposure. This illustrates a critical mindset shift around risk, from prediction to learning.
Speaker 1:In complex environments, our ability to predict outcomes is inherently limited. The most sophisticated forecasting models still fail because reality is simply too complicated, with too many interacting variables. This is a real game changer. You don't need perfect prediction if you can create rapid learning cycles. And it brings us to our third principle bold leaders design decisions for learning. We've talked for years about the learning organization and different people have implemented that with greater or lesser success, but I think thinking about decision making in this way is genuinely a game changer. So, when facing uncertainty, ask yourself how can I structure this decision to maximize learning while minimizing the downside? Consider can you break a big decision into smaller experiments? Can you create reversible steps rather than irreversible commitments? Can you establish clear learning metrics to evaluate results Numbers matter, remember and can you build feedback loops that allow quick course corrections. This mindset simultaneously embraces boldness while managing risk. It allows you to move forward into uncertainty with confidence, knowing you've designed a path that will generate intelligence as you go.
Speaker 1:Now let's talk about the emotional dimension of bold decision making. We've been missing something crucial if we pretended this was purely an intellectual exercise. Bold decisions trigger fear, both in ourselves and in those around us. I've coached many brilliant leaders who knew exactly what bold move they needed to make, but found themselves paralyzed by the emotional weight of the decision. This brings us to our fourth principle Courage is a skill that can be developed.
Speaker 1:I'm going to say that again Courage is a skill that can be developed. So what does it mean to develop courage as a skill? It starts with understanding the physiology of fear. When we face decisions with significant uncertainty, our brains often activate threat responses. This is why critical decisions can trigger sleepless nights, digestive issues or even panic symptoms and many of us are very familiar with these symptoms or even panic symptoms and many of us are very familiar with these symptoms. By recognizing these responses for what they are normal physiological reactions to uncertainty we can work with them rather than being controlled by them Simple practices like deep breathing, mindfulness or even physical movement can help regulate these responses. Beyond managing our physical reactions, developing courage involves cultivating psychological resources.
Speaker 1:Three strategies have proven particularly effective for the leaders I work with. First, clarify your deeper purpose. Do you remember? Several weeks ago I talked about the importance of values? When a decision connects to values and purpose, courage flows more naturally. The question shifts from what might I lose to what am I serving and what could we gain? Secondly, develop confidence through preparation.
Speaker 1:Courage isn't the absence of fear. It's the capacity to act despite it. Thorough preparation builds the confidence to step forward even when uncertainty remains. Thirdly, create supportive structures. Few bold decisions are made entirely alone. Surrounding yourself with people who both challenge your thinking and support your growth creates the context for courage to flourish. I've been in many masterminds over the years and most recently I joined one back in November. It consists of women in business from all over the world and we're all moving forward with our business in a time of great uncertainty. So the fear can kick in very easily and it does feel scary, but it also feels exciting. And those people who can help me by challenging my thinking but supporting my growth and my excitement, really do help my courage to flourish. So I know that this is so important and so powerful. So let's integrate these principles into a practical framework for making bold decisions while managing risk.
Speaker 1:I call this the bold decision blueprint, and it consists of five steps. Step one and it consists of five steps. Step one expand your vision. Look beyond immediate circumstances to detect emerging possibilities. Ask what weak signals of change am I seeing? What might others be missing? What would this situation look like from a completely different perspective? Step two clarify your commitment. Connect the decision to your deeper purpose and values. Ask what matters most here. What future am I trying to create? What will I regret more Moving forward and failing, or not trying at all? Step three map the risk landscape. Step three map the risk landscape. Identify what could go wrong, but also what could go right. Ask what are the key assumptions this decision depends on? What are the potential downsides and how might they be mitigated? What upside possibilities might emerge?
Speaker 1:Step four design for learning Structure the decision to maximize intelligence gathering while minimizing exposure. Ask how can I break this down into smaller experiments? What reversible steps could I take? What early indicators would tell me whether to accelerate or change course? All of these four steps can be assisted by AI. As we spoke last time, ai doesn't know your purpose and values, but once you tell it what your purpose and values are, it can really help you to connect to that. It can certainly help you expand your vision, map the risk landscape and design for learning. So don't forget what we talked about last week. This can be made easier through using AI appropriately.
Speaker 1:The fifth step is mobilise support. Identify the resources and relationships you'll need, ask who needs to be involved. What capabilities are required. How will we communicate the rationale behind this decision? So those are those five steps to the blueprint, and I've seen this framework transform how leaders approach their most significant decisions. It doesn't eliminate uncertainty nothing can do that in today's world but it does create a structured pathway through uncertainty, allowing boldness and prudence to work together rather than against each other. Remember, the boldest decisions often don't feel bold in retrospect. When they're grounded in deep inside, aligned with purpose and structure for learning, they simply feel like the natural next step on your leadership journey.
Speaker 1:So, before we close, I want to leave you with a reflection question what bold decision are you currently delaying? What possibility are you seeing that others might be missing? What one small experiment. You could run to test your hypothesis while managing the risk. You could run to test your hypothesis while managing the risk. The world needs leaders who can make bold moves in uncertainty, who can see possibilities others miss and have the courage to pursue them while intelligently managing risk. I believe that all of you can be that kind of leader. On our next episode, we'll be focusing on beating overwhelm, which is another key element in becoming the leader you can be. I've just been speaking about the fact that bold decision-making cannot come from a packed calendar, and I know that the whole area of overwhelm is one that almost everyone I work with faces, so I hope you'll find this helpful. Until then, this is Lois Burton from Leadership Horizons, reminding you that the future belongs to those who can see it coming and have the courage to help create it.