Mark Murphy explains the 70% rule: executives should decide when they have about 70% of the information they want, rather than waiting for certainty. He distinguishes reversible decisions from irreversible ones, and shows how this approach helps leaders move faster.
One of the hardest parts of executive leadership is deciding when to move forward. As leaders move up, the stakes increase, right? More people are watching. The consequences of decisions feel larger, bigger. So the instinct is to gather more information, maybe one more report, one more analysis, one more meeting. But that instinct can slow the entire organization down. There's a simple rule many effective executives Mills use. If you have about 70% of the information you wish you had, it's time to decide. Because waiting for 95% certainty usually means you've waited too long. The world doesn't pause while leaders gather perfect information, right? Competitors move, markets shift, opportunities close on you. The goal isn't perfect certainty. The goal is sound judgment combined with the ability to adjust when new information appears. Strong executives recognize which decisions are reversible and which are not. They slow down for the irreversible ones, but for most decisions, speed and adaptability matter much more than perfection. Now, it's hard to see this stuff from the inside, and that's why we built the Executive Readiness Index. It's an assessment for leaders who are serious about operating at the executive level. It's built by my team at Leadership IQ, and you can take it free at executive readiness index dot com. And to go even deeper, you can take the Executive Shift course, which is a 5-week program focused on the specific behaviors that determine whether executives scale or stall. And others work with me directly through my executive coaching, where we apply these ideas to the real leadership challenges you're facing right now. You can find both of those at leadershipiq.com.
