Making a Decision When You Shouldn’t

Sometimes I feel 100 years old and it is not because my health is bad. More the aging from memories created through so many experiences — good and bad. We truly are blessed when we have the opportunity to experience outside our normal. And life has thrown more than my fair share of ab-normal at me. How else can you describe surviving the 2nd largest earthquake ever? How else could you describe losing the key leadership in your law firm to a mid-air crash and then being one of the team left to re-orient and carry on their vision and mission? How else could you describe the feeling of being on management teams in the 2008 market crash? Each situation – real people, real lives, real impacts . . . for every decision made. Of course, I have also seen the Northern Lights from a campground just across the ocean from Greenland while fishing for fresh run Atlantic salmon. And I have lived on the backside of Kodiak Island for two weeks and seen hundreds of eagles, roaming buffalo and prowling Kodiak bears. And how about a cup of coffee as you watch a sunrise off Norman’s Cay while fishing for bonefish or a sunset in Stowe, Vermont as the backdrop to a concert (shades of the Sound of Music from the von Trapp family). But some of the absolute best experiences were when Cindy and I were in college together and served in Techwood homes playing basketball, helping with schoolwork and just loving on kids. Or when we first got married and spent summers in Appalachia with teams of youth making homes warmer, safer and drier (sorry about the TB experience Cindy). The range of emotions that are in all those experiences go from the deepest of sad to the most exhilarating of happy and peaceful. So, what in the world does this have to do with decision-making? And how on earth am I going to frame this as business advice or community advice or any other sort of advice worth having read this far. Well allow me one other memory moment . . .  I have also comforted friends and clients who lost loved ones. Often while trying to help with a trust or an estate. And I always said . . . let’s figure out what has to be decided now and do only that. They needed time to process their emotions and to understand their new normal.  For me, I have been in those times . . . many, many times. And my best decisions were always the ones made after I had removed the emotion and processed the change. Of course, you have to patch the roof if water is leaking into your home after a hurricane. But do you need to rebuild the entire house if it is gone? Maybe you might consider rebuilding it in a new way or a new place? My advice when you face a crisis or tough decision? Ask yourself and some trusted friends – what are the absolute things I must decide today. Do those. Then take the others and spend some time with good coffee, good tea, good wine and good friends. And consider the opportunity, perhaps the blessing even as hard as it might be to recognize it, of a new path forward. We are doing that now as our businesses face market and societal challenges. Do not be surprised if we ask your opinion. And do not be hesitant to ask ours. We learn through our collective sharing of experiences and wisdom. And sometimes we learn in the silent patience of deliberate wait.