WE DO NOT OFTEN REALIZE THE NUMBER of decisions we make in a day. Indeed the sum total of a day’s happenings can be traced to decisions made – by us or by others. A day may begin with the decision on what one will wear today or what one will have for breakfast and end with a choice exercised on what song one would listen to or what passage one would read before the curtains are drawn and sleep takes over. Interspersed between our first and last decision are events that occur based on the decisions that we took earlier or which result from the decisions made by others.
WE OFTEN OVERLOOK HOW MUCH LIFE ALTERS – and indeed the lives of others too – by the decisions we take and by the decisions we do not or fail to take. I remember someone saying that abstinence from a decision is in itself a decision taken. Life is full of ambiguity. It may not at all be possible to take into account every conceivable factor in our day to day decision making. Sometimes, time is a constraint too that preempts a total evaluation. Facts are even suppressed or concealed from our view at times. The whole justice system, for instance, is a hide and seek game played over facts and circumstances and our judges have the unenviable task of “arriving at the truth” based on “facts as presented”. In this process, some go scotfree and yet others get undeservedly punished !
AT THE WORK PLACE WHEN WE MAKE DECISIONS we are confronted by the usual dilemmas – will our superiors like it, will our peers or subordinates approve, is it good for our customers, does it have an impact on profits, will it violate the law or affect the environment, so on and so forth. At a corporate level, a resolution occurs if we honestly try to answer or satisfy the basic question: IS IT IN THE BEST INTERESTS OF THE ENTITY ONE WORKS FOR ? It is however not unusual, once in a while, to be confronted with a dilemma where one may have to take an unpleasant decision officially which may involve ones own favorites at the workplace. Yet again, one may be pushed to a corner to do something that is not entirely right. In both these situations, we will have to trust our basic instincts but not lose sight of facts that stare at us.
WE NEED TO BE ALWAYS CONSCIOUS OF the enormous power that we are all endowed with to make life-altering changes by the decisions – sometimes complex, sometimes simple – we make and these are not just limited to the choice of our life partners, the children we beget, the house we choose to stay in, or the careers we pursue. To add to this we have the perennial existential dilemma : THE FREEDOM OF CHOICE AND THE FREEDOM FROM CHOICE.
pradeepgopalan.com 
Restricted to the confines of the workplace arena alone , decisions when taken are generally “correct in all respects”.
Under the umbrella of “correct in all respects “ one takes refuge while performing a balancing act to tone down unsavory facts to a mere mention, and throttle the desire to speak one’s mind
Why, because corporate hierarchy and circles of power, restrict opinions to levels which are but……………………….. “correct in all respects “
LikeLike
Enlightened corporates do entertain contrarian views as well so that at the end of the day a decision in the best interests of the corporate is taken and in this context, for the outside world there is a single corporate voice speaking – otherwise there would be chaos. Corporate democracy may not of course be prevalent everywhere which is why one witnesses forced exits from Boards and at various levels of management. As for correctness of decisions, they may appear to be so at the time and context in which they are taken and yet what is once perceived as a correct decision may in hindsight be viewed as wholly inappropriate.
Thanks for your feedback.
LikeLike
I believe being selfish, helps us from 'freedom from choice' 🙂
LikeLike