Leadership Wednesday 01 - Everyday Decisions

I went to the optometrist yesterday for my annual checkup. It was an average optometrist appointment with the requisite “one or two,” “this one or that one,” and “read me that line backwards now.” The vision in my right eye has gotten a little worse but, other than that, my eyes are doing all right. I went to pay for my eye exam, ready to give the receptionist $75, the cost for an exam without vision insurance. Imagine my surprise, however, when she told me that I only owed her seven dollars. I gave her a funny look at told her that I didn’t have insurance and that she might want to double check the system. It turns out that there is a Scott T. Higa somewhere in this world and apparently he has really good vision insurance. Once we had the issue cleared up, I paid my $75 and went on with my day.

Looking back, though, it would have been really nice to save $68; I could have done quite a bit with that extra money. And even though I know that it is better to be honest, I’m still a little upset that I didn’t just pretend to be ignorant and walk out of there with a heavier wallet. We face small decisions like that every day, just little choices we’re given to do the right thing. So much of our growth and development as leaders takes place within those small decisions that we face on any given day.

Sometimes I like to think that leadership is all about the big decisions that I make, the ones that will have the largest impact. I think about FDR’s decision to enter World War II after the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor or Steve Job’s decision to rebrand Apple as the company which creates iPods in order to gain more traction with its computers and notebooks. These are the decisions that I want to focus on as a leader, the grand decisions that will be written about for years to come. In all actuality, though, not very many of those decisions take place on a daily basis; sometimes those decisions come, but they are usually few and far between. So, as leaders, should we only be looking to those big moments or should spend a little more time focusing on all the little, everyday moments?

As leaders we need to focus on the day-to-day living and the day-to-day decisions. It is those small decisions every day which build character and prepare us for the big decisions. FDR and Steve Jobs didn’t just sit around waiting for the big decision, when they would finally have an opportunity to lead; they spent their lives preparing for the big decision by leading on a daily basis, choosing to live and lead rightly every day. We need to prepare ourselves for the big decisions by choosing rightly with the small decisions. And, even if we never make the big decision, we’ll have spent our lives building character and creating influence by focusing on how we live on a daily basis. That is true leadership.

Where is your focus and how is that affecting your leadership?