Leading with Emotional Intelligence: Hands-On ... - always yours

SELF-CONFIDENCE TOOLS AND STRATEGIES 135
• See it happening just the way you would want it to happen.
• Picture what others are saying to you, how you are feeling,
and how it feels to be successful in the endeavor.
9. DECISIVENESS
In 1983, Quaker Oats bought the slumping sports drink Gatorade.
CEO William Smithburg paid $220 million for Gatorade and
turned it into a $3 billion business. When he came to his board
to purchase Snapple in 1994, it seemed like a no-brainer. The
acquisition, though, proved to be one of the most unsuccessful
in American history. It cost Smithburg his job, and Quaker
unloaded Snapple for $300 million in 1997 after having paid
$1.8 billion for it. 8
How could the Gatorade purchase be so successful and the
Snapple deal be such a failure? The answer is: it is easy and natural
to rely on old data to give us insight about a current decision. It is in
our human nature to rely on historical precedent. We have a selective
memory and recall what is recent or most traumatic and neglect
subtle details or results.
KEY STEPS FOR DECISION-MAKING
Strong leaders do not act as the group’s brain, but rather as
consensus builders. When team leaders express their opinions too
early in a decision-making discussion, the group generates fewer
ideas and often makes poorer decisions. But when the leaders hold
back and act mainly as facilitators of the group’s process, without
imposing their views until the end of the discussion, the outcome is
a better decision. 9
Lee Iacocca, who rebuilt Chrysler into a world-class auto company,
states, “If I had to sum up in one word the qualities that make
a good manager, I’d say that it all comes down to decisiveness . . .
In the end you have to bring all your information together, set up
a timetable, and act.”