If you are a leader, the buck stops with you

On his desk in the Oval Office, US President Harry Truman famously had a wooden sign which said, “The buck stops here.”

No shifting responsibility, no passing around blame — when the push came to shove, Truman promised finality.

And true to his promise, Truman took some of the toughest (and the most controversial) decisions ever taken by a US President — he dropped the nuclear bombs on Japan.

Taking decisions is hard, especially when facts are ambiguous and logic doesn’t speak clearly. But unfortunately, that is how the real world is.

No matter how confusing the situation, somebody has to decide. And that person is the leader.

In any organization, leaders get special privileges nobody else gets — big money, status, recognition, and so on. And they get them not because they are the smartest or the best, but because they have to take the final call.

So the next time you have to take a difficult decision and are feeling awful about it, remind yourself — leadership is a privilege.

Right or wrong, it is your call. And if it was always easy, why would we even need a leader?

If you are a leader, the buck stops with you. That is the definition of leadership.

– Rajan

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