Dear Reader
When I first led a strategic planning process, I thought leadership meant bringing everyone along. Ensuring all voices were heard. Maintaining alignment and comfort.
After the process ended, the project lead and I reflected and realised something important.
We had spent too much time trying to build consensus.
Every discussion stretched longer than it needed to. We hesitated to close debates for fear of leaving people behind. On the surface, the process looked inclusive. In reality, it slowed momentum and diluted accountability.
Leadership is not about harmony. It is about clarity and conviction.
What we needed to do was different. We needed to listen carefully, consider fully, then decide and invest time afterwards explaining why that decision had been made.
That shift is subtle, but it is where leadership actually lives.
It is also where leadership becomes uncomfortable.
Decision making at senior levels is an act of vulnerability.
Standing behind a decision and explaining it openly requires courage
Making the call means accepting that not everyone will agree. That outcomes are uncertain. And that responsibility sits with you.
As leaders become more senior, the work changes.
The number of decisions does not decrease. But the nature of those decisions does.
Your role is no longer to weigh in on everything.
Your role is to focus on the decisions that are consequential, hard to reverse, and shape the future of the organisation.
• You decide fewer things, but more consequential ones
• You focus on decisions that are hard to reverse
• You deliberately delegate those that can be revisited
• You stay accountable without staying involved
This is where delegation becomes harder than it looks
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You are no longer expected to make every decision, but you are still expected to understand what is happening and why.
Boards ask. Funders ask. The system asks.
You need enough confidence to say this is covered and mean it and simple ways to stay informed.
Frameworks help. Clear decision making structures clarify who recommends, who inputs, who decides, and who executes. They create permission and reduce confusion.
But frameworks alone are not enough.
What takes far longer is building the confidence and judgement beneath them. Helping colleagues put forward strong recommendations. Supporting decisions made with incomplete information. Learning, as a leader, to step back from decisions you would have made differently while staying informed and accountable.
That work is slower. Messier. Often uncomfortable.
And it is where real leadership capacity is built.
Clarity requires courage. Delegation requires trust.
Neither feel comfortable in the moment. But both are essential if organisations are to move with pace, confidence, and purpose.
I now spend much of my time working alongside CEOs and senior teams at exactly this point, helping them strengthen decision clarity, delegation, and leadership judgement as their organisations grow more complex.
Warm regards,
Liz
Strategic Advisor | Former CEO | Founder, Volante
Based in Kenya, available globally
