Trailhead Thoughts
“When your values are clear to you, making decisions becomes easier.”
- Anonymous
Trail Map - Learn. Think. Act. ™
The Revenue Leader’s Guide to Smarter Decisions
📚Learn
When you are in a leadership role, every decision starts with 3 things:
Clear Objective - What are we trying to accomplish?
Guiding Principles - How do we make decisions around here?
Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) - How will this decision impact our KPIs?
If you miss any of these, decision-making becomes guesswork.
As a revenue leader, your two most important questions should be:
Will this help us creating pipeline (bringing in new opportunities)?
Will this help us develop pipeline (move deals forward)?
If it’s not doing one of those, why are we doing it?
🤔Think
Which of your current projects clearly ties back to pipeline creation or development?
Which do not?
Are your team members clear on their KPIs, principles, and objectives? If not, how can they make smart choices?
💪 Act
Write down your top business objective.
List your 3-5 guiding principles
Identify your key KPIs (leading, lagging, and converting).
Share these with your team. Clarity builds confidence.
Leaders don’t just decide, they build other decision-makers.
Beyond the Trailhead
Decisions, Designed
If you’re a leader, chances are pretty high that you day is filled with decisions. Big ones. Small ones. “Why is this on my calendar?” ones. Some days it even feels like everything somehow landed on your desk.
We have found that many leaders trying to make every decision in isolation. No framework. No filter. No guiding principles. Just reacting and hoping for the best.
Let’s try something else.
Mike’s approach cuts through that noise with three simple anchors: the objective, the principles, and the numbers.
When a decision shows up, the question becomes:
Does this support what we’re trying to accomplish?
Does it align with how we’ve agreed to operate?
Does it move the numbers that actually keep the business (and team) alive?
If the answer is no, why are you spending time, energy, and attention on it?
This isn’t about being cold or transactional. It’s about being clear. Clarity reduces decision fatigue. It builds confidence. And, it gives your team permission to make better decisions without waiting on you.
What You Can Do This Week:
Try this before your next big decision:
Write the objective at the top of the page. Just one sentence.
List 2-3 guiding principles you won’t violate. Speed over perfection. Customer impact first. Protect the team.
Identify the one number this decision should influence. Pipeline created? Pipeline developed? Speed to execution? Time saved?
If you can’t connect the decision to at least one of those, take that as your answer.
Share this framework with your team. When people understand the objective, the principles, and their numbers, they stop escalating every decision to you. (Sounds blissful, doesn’t it?) That’s how leaders build leaders.
If you found this helpful, chances are someone in your peer group is also carrying decision weight that they don’t need to. Forward this to them. It might be the clarity they’ve been missing and the permission they need to lead more confidently.
Less guesswork.
Better decisions.
A little more breathing room for everyone.
Voices from the Trail
Join Mike as he explores how to simplify decision-making using the energy vs. impact quadrant and the Eisenhower matrix. Learn to focus on high-impact tasks that energize you, delegate low-impact activities, and make informed decisions to boost productivity and effectiveness in your personal and professional life.
Listen to this episode on Spotify
Hitting the Trail
We’re actively exploring speaking opportunities for Mike at upcoming conferences, leadership offsite, SKOs, RKOs, and team events. If you know of an open call for speakers, an event planner, or a team that could use a clear, practical voice on leadership, decision-making, and execution, we’d love an introduction.
Referrals mean a lot to us. If someone in your circle is planning an event and wants people to walk away with clarity, alignment, and tools they’ll use, point them our way. Let’s help more teams find their footing and move forward with intention.
Curious what that could look like for your team or event?
See how Mike works with teams.
Or just hit reply. Messages come straight to us.
Announcements
Save the Date: Decide Like a Leader
Tuesday, January 27th 9:30am Pacific / 12:30pm Eastern
If you found yourself nodding along while reading today’s blocks about decision-making, you’re not alone.
That’s exactly why we’re hosting a live webinar called Decide Like a Leader to help leaders and emerging leaders move from overthinking to clear, confident action.
Remember to save the date - details and registration coming soon.
Follow us on LinkedIn to get the full invite when it drops.
That’s it for this week.
Keep putting one intentional step in front of the other - the view gets better and better as you climb.
We’d love if you would share this with someone who is ready to build their sprints for the new year.
The Find My Catalyst Team