He who hesitates is lost, right? Or is he a Leader? (Well, it depends!)
When I was a young banker with a few dollars, I was looking for the next hot investment. It was the 80’s and people were acquiring businesses every day, and I wanted in on the action. My first deal was awesome. A friend mentioned that company XYZ was a ripe prospect for a takeover, the kind that could be snatched up any day. So I wrote a check and sure enough, I doubled my investment in a week.
A month or so later I had a similar opportunity. I bought a few shares in a hot prospect and waited for the deal to go down. But the only thing that went down was my investment. I watched it dwindle to zero as potential buyers went looking elsewhere for their next target. I was a bold, quick, decisive risk taker. But I discovered that speed kills.
They say he who hesitates is lost. There’s a lot of truth to that. Waiting too long can be as dangerous as acting too quickly. But is there a time to wait? What do wise leaders do? When should we act and when should we hesitate?
Perhaps it depends on why we wait, not that we wait at all. Andy Stanley offers some great insight on in a favorite book of mine, Next Generation Leader. Andy said that there is a difference between being careful and being fearful. If we hesitate because of fear, we will never lead well. But if we hesitate because we are being careful and wise, then people will follow our lead.
Here’s how Andy compares the two.
Careful versus Fearful
- Careful is cerebral; fearful is emotional
- Careful is fueled by information; fearful by imagination
- Careful calculates risk; fearful avoids risk
- Careful wants to achieve success; fearful wants to avoid failure
- Careful is concerned about progress; fearful is concerned about protection
Are you hesitating to make a key decision? Why? If because of fear, you’ll never lead. But if you are waiting because you are careful – weighing the options, calculating the risk, doing your homework – then you’ll never lack for followers.
When your gut causes you to wonder, it may be as sign to wait and get some more information. Generally, use as much time as you can before making a big decision.
Because sometimes he who hesitates is…a leader.
#1 by Mike Mack on February 20, 2012 - 7:28 pm
I like this, Bill. I’ve been thinking and writing about this topic a lot lately, and as I was reading your post, I thought about the different responses to leadership opportunities between King Saul and King David. Saul was fearful in his leadership. David could be described as careful. He didn’t ASSUME leadership, he waited on God’s call, and even when he knew he was called to be the next King, he waited and was careful not to run ahead of God. It took me a while in my young leadership to learn this lesson. Sometimes we feel such a strong calling by God that we are not careful to wait on Him. God will find a way to use us anyway, but we can be so much more useful and successful by being patient.