One decision among many for a leader may be a lasting inflection point in someone else's career.
The question it changes
From “what will this decision accomplish?” to “what will this decision mean to the person on the receiving end once it leaves the room?”
The assumption it dislodges
That leaders and recipients experience the same decision on the same scale. Leaders experience their decisions in sequence. The people on the receiving end often experience them as a before and an after.
Where it was observed
Decades of executive decision-making, and the pattern of returning years later to realize that a twenty-minute call had shaped someone else’s five years.