Many sports involve you hitting a ball served up by your opponent – think tennis, baseball, squash, table tennis, and so on. In other sports, the ball is served up by your teammate, but you are hitting it towards your opponent or to a goal/net – volleyball, hockey, basketball, football (soccer), and so on. While others, like golf, is bit more solo.

And if you talk to anyone who has played these games, they can tell stories of awkward hits and the sweet spot. Hits where the bat broke or the body had to bend like a contortionist to strike the ball. But also times when immediately they knew it was a beauty.

Decision making can actually be similar. Rarely are decisions in ‘the sweet spot’. Sometimes we are eeking out a hit. Our minds are dealing with conflicting or unclear, incomplete data and perspectives, yet a decision needs to be made. Most of the time, decisions are made not in the sweet spot but also without needing to be a contortionist.

Part of the skill of being a leader is decision making. And part of improving decision making is knowing where your sweet spot is and how to get there.

Photo by Victoriano Izquierdo