Monday, June 26, 2017

Great Leaders Need To Make Great Decisions

The decision wasn’t exactly what I was hoping for, nor what any of the SVPs was arguing for. It was more of a compromise than I’d wanted to see or any of the SVPs in the debate wanted to see. It made none of us happy.

Nonetheless, it was Larry’s decision and everyone got some work to do to support Larry’s tweak to the product for launch.

On that day, I felt sympathy for Larry. Yes, he is CEO of one of the most powerful and respected companies on this planet (Google). We’d all expect him to be powerful. Yet, his decision was a compromise, because the overall system and the overall dynamics are very complex. I’m sure that’s not what he wanted; his hands were tied too.

Observing Larry’s hands being tied, in his own company, gave me an extra layer of appreciation for checks and balances. Now several years later, at my own startup Leap.ai, there are constantly moments where I’d remember Larry’s face on that day when I sat right next to him.

– Yunkai Zhou

(CavemanCircus.com)

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