Decision making – Some lessons from great leaders

By Alec Hogg

This is turning out to be quite a year for decision making.

On Thursday, Britons decide whether to leave the European Union. In August's municipal elections, South Africans decide whether, like the ANC, they forgive President Jacob Zuma for Nkandla and the Guptas. And in November, Americans decide whether to turn the nation's political establishment on its head by putting the ultimate outsider into the White House.

Three great leaders, Abraham Lincoln, Winston Churchill and Jan Smuts, had very different approaches to decision making. Lincoln relied on his powerful sense of right and wrong. Churchill carefully assessed all available intelligence before reaching conclusions. Smuts sometimes admitted that as he had insufficient visibility, the decision could be left for a future generations who would have.

History shows none of them were perfect. But each did possess a process that forced them to think long and hard. So their decisions tended to be based on applying rationality rather than the knee-jerk of emotion. And that, surely, is the better option.