No Small Choices: The Ripple Effect Of Leadership Decisions

As a leader, you make countless decisions and choices, many of which can seem like they’ll be forgotten within a week’s time given rapid pace by which things change these days.

But we have to remember that every choice we make creates powerful ripples that not only end up informing the choices we’ll face down the road, but which also determine how others experience our leadership.

The Patagonia Lesson: How Yvon Chouinard Led With Purpose

A good example of this idea can be seen in Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard’s leadership.

When faced with making a difficult business decision, Chouinard would always prioritize choices that focused on environmental sustainability and employee well-being, even if it was at the expense of short-term profits.

Chouinard understood that the choices he made over the short-term would have a dramatic impact on the culture and values he aspired to create at Patagonia, fuelling long-term ripples that would allow his company to attract and retain purpose-driven employees, as well as loyal customers.

To ensure you’re creating positive ripples through the choices you make, here are three principles to keep in mind.

1. Embrace a Long-Term Perspective

First, embrace a long-term perspective. It’s clear that many organizations and their leaders are operating from a short-term perspective, which makes sense during periods of uncertainty.

But this demonstrates a lack of understanding of the ripples these choices make over the long-term, not to mention the risk of compromising core values leading to an erosion of trust.

2. Every Choice Shapes Your Organization’s Story

Second, recognize that every choice you makes shapes your organization’s story. Every choice is like a fork in the road and the choices you make signal what really matters and consequently, how people behave and where they focus their efforts.

3. Align Your Values With Your Actions

And third, make sure there’s alignment between your stated values and your actions. Time and again, we’ve seen examples of leaders and organizations claiming one thing and doing another.

And we’ve seen how these short-term choices erode trust both on the inside and out, trust that is very hard to get back, if at all.

There Are No Small Choices

The truth is in leadership there are no small choices – every choice we make creates a ripple that will compound and grow over time.

That’s why we have to make sure we be mindful of what the choices we make say about us not only today, but what they will create as opportunities and challenges for our organization in the future.