Stop Waiting for Perfect Data and Start Deciding Sooner

In a volatile environment, the biggest risk usually isn't making the wrong decision. It's not making one at all.

Most executive rooms I sit in are full of smart people who know the business well. They have a lot of insight and expertise. However, there’s a tendency to wait before the picture feels complete.

Usually the reasoning sounds legit. Let’s wait for more data. Let’s see how the market reacts. Let’s not be hasty with all of this uncertainty. 

None of it’s unreasonable on its own. The problem is the pattern over time. Every decision becomes a research project. Every tradeoff waits for another risk analysis. Everyone can feel that a decision needs to be made, but no one wants to be responsible for the risk of being wrong.

Meanwhile, the clock does not stop. Customers move on. Competitors ship their product. Teams sit there while they wait for clarity that never quite arrives. On the surface it looks like prudence. Underneath, it’s fear dressed up as due diligence.

In a volatile environment, the cost of waiting for perfect data can be higher than the cost of being wrong and adjusting. In fast-moving situations, safe and slow is often the same as too late.

The leaders I see handling this well use a simple process: they ask a few questions. What’s the worst case scenario if we move forward? What can we do to mitigate the risk? And what small experiments can we do to move the effort forward to make the path clearer?

It’s not about being reckless or ignoring the uncertainty. It’s treating decisions as reversible experiments that can highlight potential paths forward. It’s defining what success looks like in the next 15 to 30 days and adjusting as more data is gathered. 

The process isn’t perfect. It creates a shared expectation that some of your calls will be wrong and that it’s actually part of the job. It gives teams permission to run small, fast experiments instead of lobbying for one perfect answer that spends the budget for the year.

Most importantly, it shows people that you’re willing to carry the risk of being wrong in public. That’s where a lot of teams are stuck. They’re not waiting for more data. They’re waiting to see if it’s actually safe to take a shot. This is where your behavior matters more than your words.

If you say you want speed but punish every imperfect decision, people will hear the real message. If you ask for experiments but ask why there’s uncertainty, your managers will keep hiding behind more research. 

If you want a different culture, start asking a few questions in your next meeting. Instead of asking, “What else do we need to know?” try asking, “What would we do if we had to decide by Friday?”, or “What’s the actual cost of being wrong here and what’s the cost of waiting another month?”, or “What’s the smallest version of this we can try that would still teach us something?”

Those questions move people into action and ownership.

You definitely won’t get every experiment right. But you’re not supposed to. That’s the risk with leadership. Moving a vision forward without guaranteed outcomes. And when you do take that risk and own it, your team will want to move forward with you.