The person who owns the consequences should make the decision.
While this sounds obvious, it is often ignored.
- As a manager, you decide how a team should work, but it is the team that bears the fallout.
- As a parent, you impose on your child’s career path, but it’s the child who lives that life.
- As a leader, you dictate strategy without owning the execution.
I have a simple test for this idea. Who carries the weight if the decision goes wrong? That’s who should decide.
Advice is fine. Support is better. But control without consequence is unfair.
If someone is accountable for the outcome, they deserve the autonomy to shape it.
Let them choose.