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Key Takeaways
- Slow down the fast decisions. Take time to debate assumptions, pressure-test options and breathe.
- Balance confidence with curiosity. The higher you go in your career, your role shifts from having the answers to asking the right questions.
- Before you zoom in on tactical moves, zoom out and consider the long-term impact.
- Anchor your judgment in principles, not just gut feelings, and rely on experience, data and feedback (not expertise alone).
According to PwC’s 28th Annual Global CEO Survey, 40% of CEOs believe their company won’t be viable in 10 years if it continues on its current path. That’s not just angst. It’s proof that leaders are under pressure to make decisions that matter more than ever. Early in your career, effort and output count. But as you rise, you’re evaluated less on what you do and more on how wisely you decide.
Boards, investors, employees and even markets don’t just look at your process. They watch the outcomes. Were you courageous yet thoughtful? Did you weigh trade-offs? Did your decision protect culture, advance the business and create long-term value?
At the top, judgment is no longer about efficiency. It’s about impact. And it’s harder than ever. Here are five ways to sharpen it:
1. Slow down the fast decisions
The higher you climb, the faster everything feels. Urgent emails, investor demands, breaking crises — every situation screams “decide now.” But fast rarely means wise.
Strong leaders know when to buy time (not weeks, but hours or days) to debate assumptions, pressure-test options and breathe. That pause can be the difference between a knee-jerk move and a durable one.
Satya Nadella, for example, has been praised for resisting the urge to make snap calls at Microsoft. His deliberate approach to restructuring by slowing down enough to ask big-picture questions set the company up for its revival. Slowing down around material decisions isn’t weakness. It’s discipline.
2. Balance confidence with curiosity
Yes, people want decisive leaders. But overconfidence kills judgment. Leaders who assume they’re the smartest person in the room miss blind spots that everyone else can see.
The irony? The higher you go, the less you’re actually the subject expert. Specialists surround you. Your role shifts from having the answers to asking the right questions. Great leaders balance conviction with curiosity. They ask: What am I missing? Who else should weigh in?
Research backs this up. A Behavioral Science & Policy journal article on overconfidence bias argued that leaders who place excessive trust in their own judgment and disregard expert advice and outside perspectives are more likely to underperform in decision outcomes. Strong judgment isn’t solo genius; it’s knowing when to widen the circle.
3. Zoom out before you zoom in
A decision that looks smart this quarter can look disastrous three years from now. Short-termism is a judgment trap, and leaders who fall into it often pay the price.
In a recent discussion with a franchisor leader about franchisee profitability during a difficult economic cycle, the immediate fix seemed to be distributing next quarter’s rebates early. However, after considering the long-term impact, it became clear that “borrowing” from the future wasn’t a sustainable choice and that better solutions existed for lasting success.
The lesson: Before you zoom in on tactical moves, zoom out and check your horizon. Ask yourself: How will this play in six months? Three years? 10?
4. Use principles, not just gut
Gut instinct can be powerful. But gut without guardrails is dangerous. Potentially material decisions demand consistency, and consistency comes from principles.
Amazon’s famous Leadership Principles are a great example. They give leaders across the company a framework for making choices under pressure, ensuring judgment calls align with values such as customer obsession and long-term thinking.
When leaders anchor their judgment in principles — whether cultural values, strategic filters or red lines — they prevent decisions from swinging wildly with emotion or politics. Gut still matters, but it’s gut tethered to something that guides the potential upsides and downsides of all key judgment calls.
5. Rely on experience, data and feedback — not expertise alone
While “time on earth” provides overall wisdom, with every promotion, you become less of a subject expert. That’s the paradox. You’re further from the details but closer to the calls that matter most. Which is why the “how” of decision-making becomes critical.
Strong judgment rests on three anchors:
Experience gives perspective. You’ve seen patterns, survived mistakes and know that delaying tough choices rarely helps.
Data grounds you. It won’t decide for you, but it prevents rationalizing what you wish were true.
Feedback balances you. Diverse voices reveal blind spots while still leaving you the courage to make the final call.
I once coached a CEO of a $500 million company who had to decide whether to shut down a division employing 200 people. Her team was split. Half wanted to cut it; half wanted to keep it. She used this framework: reflecting on past mistakes (experience), reviewing six straight quarters of missed targets (data) and honoring her team’s cultural concerns (feedback).
Her instinct was to delay. But she slowed down, zoomed out and leaned on her principle of capital discipline. The decision: Shut it down. It was unpopular at the moment, but the capital saved was reinvested in growth initiatives that doubled revenue within two years. Her takeaway? Leadership isn’t about being liked in the moment. It’s about judgment that earns respect when people look back.
The paradox of leadership is this: The higher you rise, the fewer tactical decisions you make, but the more material and lasting the judgment calls you face. You won’t be remembered for how many choices you made. You’ll be remembered for the judgment you applied to the few that mattered most. Because at the top, you are judged on your judgment.
Key Takeaways
- Slow down the fast decisions. Take time to debate assumptions, pressure-test options and breathe.
- Balance confidence with curiosity. The higher you go in your career, your role shifts from having the answers to asking the right questions.
- Before you zoom in on tactical moves, zoom out and consider the long-term impact.
- Anchor your judgment in principles, not just gut feelings, and rely on experience, data and feedback (not expertise alone).
According to PwC’s 28th Annual Global CEO Survey, 40% of CEOs believe their company won’t be viable in 10 years if it continues on its current path. That’s not just angst. It’s proof that leaders are under pressure to make decisions that matter more than ever. Early in your career, effort and output count. But as you rise, you’re evaluated less on what you do and more on how wisely you decide.
Boards, investors, employees and even markets don’t just look at your process. They watch the outcomes. Were you courageous yet thoughtful? Did you weigh trade-offs? Did your decision protect culture, advance the business and create long-term value?
