One of my CEO clients and I recently spoke about a difficult decision. He had thought long and hard before taking his recommendation to the board. He sought the confidential counsel of two others and weighed alternatives and potential outcomes. In the end, he made the best decision for the organization, weighing all important factors.

It was a straightforward exercise to quantify the risks and define the benefits. The difficult part of the decision was the impact he knew it would have on others. To his credit, he did not delay the decision. But he felt empathy for others.

As I reflected on our conversation, two things occurred to me. Over decades, I have advised many leaders to move more quickly on people decisions. Hire slowly, fire quickly. Sometimes, performance gaps, be they behavioural, technical, strategic or other do not improve over time, even with appropriate coaching and development opportunities.  When the leader sees that improvement is unlikely, it weighs heavily on them as he/she knows what the correct outcome should be.

Secondly, when a leader had compassion for the individual or individuals that were being impacted by a decision – clients, employees, business partners, investors, or others – his or her approach when acting upon the decision lessened the negative impacts. The executive garnered greater respect and their integrity remained intact.

It is uniquely challenging in partnerships, when two or three individuals founded a company many years in the past, and now one of them is no longer interested, or contributing equally. Or perhaps the other(s) want to pursue growth, while one partner wants to cash in the gains, so to speak, and not risk loss of capital. Even in these cases, I have seen successful outcomes when the partners have candid, often challenging conversations about the need to restructure. They may not retain a friendship, but everyone is better off. Delaying the conversation for a year or two, hoping that the other will “figure it out” is rarely the right route.

When I was a corporate executive and one of my leaders felt bad about a difficult situation, I would say to them, “The day you no longer feel that compassion is the day you give over your chair to someone else.” Since that time, as an advisor to hundreds of executives and board chairs, that truth has been demonstrated repeatedly.

Hold on to your empathy and your compassion. Continue to make the right decisions for the organization and all stakeholders. You are a leader in title and by appointment. You have followers when others choose to follow your lead.

© 2021 Lorraine A. Moore. All rights reserved. Permission granted to excerpt or reprint with attribution.

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