Right now, I’m on a catamaran just off the coast of Naples. The water is impossibly blue. The salty breeze cuts the heat in just the right way. And even though I’m thousands of miles from my desk, I feel fully connected, not to email or conference calls, but to clarity.
It feels like a writing retreat disguised as a vacation. My children are swimming off the stern, and my wife is reading in the sun. For the first time in a long time, I’m not checking my phone. I’m not worried. Business is buzzing back home. The right people are in the right seats, and I’ve made the right decisions.
That’s the magic, isn’t it? Decision-making.
Whether you’re running a law firm, a franchise brand, or a global manufacturing company, you make thousands of choices. Some are simple: respond now or later? Others carry weight: hire this person or hold out for someone better? Expand to Houston or double down in Atlanta?
Some decisions create momentum. Others quietly erode it. Collectively, they shape everything.
This trip through Italy, starting in Rome, now sailing the Amalfi Coast, has sharpened my sense of how many decisions go into making something great. In Rome, I stood in front of Michelangelo’s Moses at San Pietro in Vincoli. The detail in the marble, such as veins under skin and a furrowed brow that feels somehow alive, is impossible to forget. A guide whispered something that stuck with me: “With marble, you can’t go back. Every cut is permanent.”
And that’s when it hit me. In business, some decisions are like working with marble. You get one shot. You cut too deep, and the entire sculpture fractures.
But some decisions? Some are more like painting. You can layer, revise, and change course. Add color. Soften lines. Start again.
Both require vision. Both require courage. But only one gives you the luxury of correction.
And sometimes, the smartest decisions aren’t the loudest but are the ones that quietly remove friction, expanding the ease with which we can make future decisions.
In Rome, walking the ancient roads, I was struck not just by their endurance, but by their elegance. Across their vast empire, the roads were astonishingly uniform in width, materials, and design. That wasn’t coincidence; it was strategy. By using standardized, modular construction such as paving stones that could be replicated and replaced, they ensured consistency, speed, and scalability. Some historians even say the Romans created the first LEGO-like bricks, not for play, but to build their empire.
The Romans didn’t just build roads. They built systems.
It was decision-making baked into infrastructure. Standardized roads meant fewer choices, faster execution, and fewer mistakes. Local builders didn’t wait for permission because they had a blueprint. Artisans didn’t worry about fit so they focused on invention. Uniformity didn’t limit creativity; it unleashed it.
That’s a lesson modern businesses often overlook: when you standardize what you can, you free up brainpower and bandwidth to focus on what really matters.
So here’s the question I’ve been sitting with, while the waves slap rhythmically against the hull: What is your company’s capacity to make decisions?
Not just big ones. But consistent, coordinated, strategically aligned decisions. Because decision-making isn’t just an executive function — it’s an organizational muscle. Some companies train it. Others don’t.
Decision-Making Excellence
Amazon is a masterclass in decentralized decision-making. Jeff Bezos famously said, “Most decisions should probably be made with somewhere around 70% of the information you wish you had. If you wait for 90%, in most cases, you’re probably being slow.” That mentality empowered teams to experiment, launch products, and fail fast. Prime, AWS, even Kindle all came from bold decisions made without perfect data.
Netflix, too, embodies agility. When it pivoted from DVD-by-mail to streaming, then again into original content, it wasn’t just a technology shift. It was a culture of decision-making at play. Netflix cofounder Reed Hastings made it clear: “I take pride in making as few decisions as possible, as opposed to making as many as possible.” He focused on empowering his team to develop new products and services. That tolerance for variation and imperfection enabled speed.
Nvidia offers a different lens. When the GPU market seemed niche and gamers were the main buyers, Nvidia bet big on a future few could see clearly: AI. They shifted resources, invested in R&D, and now sit at the center of a global technological revolution. One bold decision cascaded into industry dominance.
When Companies Course Correct
On the flip side, consider Starbucks in the late 2000s. The brand was expanding too quickly, losing its sense of intimacy and product quality. Howard Schultz returned as CEO, famously wrote in a memo that their stores “no longer have the soul of the past,” and closed down all 7,100 U.S. locations for a day of retraining. That decision, which was costly in the short term, recentered the company’s values and stabilized long-term growth.
Or take LEGO. In the early 2000s, they over-diversified: theme parks, clothing lines, even a failed robotics platform. Losses mounted. But rather than continue on that path, leadership refocused on core products, returned to what made LEGO great, imagination, quality, and creativity, and rebounded stronger than ever.
The Unrecoverable Cuts
But not all stories end with a pivot. Sometimes, a single bad decision can’t be undone. Like marble, it can’t be patched or painted over.
Blockbuster had the chance to buy Netflix in 2000 for just $50 million. Leadership laughed it off. Then, instead of investing in digital transformation, they doubled down on physical locations and late fees. By the time they tried to pivot, it was too late. The marble had cracked.
Kodak is another example. Despite inventing the digital camera, Kodak clung to film. Leadership feared cannibalizing their core business. That decision to protect instead of evolve led to bankruptcy.
How to Strengthen Your Decision-Making Muscle
So what separates companies that chisel masterpieces from those who chip away blindly?
Here are a few lessons I’ve seen hold true, both in my own work and across industries:
- Define your decision rights. Who decides what? The most agile companies empower teams, avoid bottlenecks, and clarify boundaries.
- Accept imperfection. Waiting for 100% certainty leads to missed opportunities.
- Revisit your priorities often. What made sense last quarter might not today. Business is dynamic. Your decisions should be too.
- Invest in your people. The best decisions often come from the ground up. Hire thinkers. Train leaders. Encourage ownership.
- Build systems that support smart decisions. Use data. Use automation. But don’t lose the human judgment in the process.
As I sit here watching the sun lower over the cliffs, I’m reminded that my best decisions haven’t always been the most popular ones. They haven’t always had perfect clarity. But they’ve been consistent with my values, aligned with long-term goals, and made with enough trust to step away and let others lead.
Just like in art, every business is shaped by decisions. Some you chisel once. Some you paint over. Some you only see clearly in hindsight.
The key is to keep making them with care, with courage, and with an eye for what you’re trying to build. Because in the end, whether you’re sculpting in marble or painting with light, the masterpiece is in the making.
And every day, every decision, is another stroke.
To learn more about creating business strategy masterpieces, visit Outthinker.com.