How to Build This Crucial Leadership Skill this Year Decisiveness is often spoken about as if it's a character trait. Some leaders 'just have it'; others don't. But the evidence tells a different story.
By Charlie Curson Edited by Patricia Cullen
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No one is born decisive. Decisiveness is built; it is also learnable. And in today's environment of relentless uncertainty and rapid change, it has become one of the most essential – and sought after – strategic skills a leader can develop in 2026. The leaders we admire for their clarity under pressure weren't confident because they always knew the answer. They became confident because they learned how to navigate not knowing.
Decisiveness is a muscle
From 25 years working alongside leaders from fast-growth scale-ups to global corporations, one pattern stands out: decisiveness only emerges when three underlying capabilities are built deliberately.
#1. Emotional steadiness
People often think decision-making is purely cognitive. It's not. It's emotional first, cognitive second. If a leader's nervous system is overloaded, even subtly - from day-to-day stresses, looming deadlines, internal politics, or the fear of failure – the brain shifts into threat mode. The decisive leaders are therefore not calmer because they make better decisions; they make better decisions because they are calmer. Simple practices make the difference: structured reflection, self-awareness routines, slowing down before speeding up, naming fears and emotions rather than suppressing them. These are not 'soft skills'. They are the psychological infrastructure for gaining more strategic clarity. Though she had her critics, the former Prime Minister for New Zealand, Jacinda Ardern, demonstrated this repeatedly in crisis moments – a combination of emotional steadiness, empathy and clarity that enabled rapid, values-led decision-making under intense pressure.
#2. A wider lens on the future
The most decisive leaders cultivate curiosity ruthlessly. They scan widely. They listen far more than they speak. And they ask a question that sits at the heart of all strategic leadership: 'What would have to be true for this to succeed?' Decisiveness, at its core, is a future-focused act of imagination. By contrast, companies such as Boeing offer a cautionary tale of what happens when pressure, pace and short-termism replace curiosity and rigour. Planning becomes a proxy for strategy — and the consequences speak for themselves.
#3. Clarity of direction
Indecision often masks a deeper issue: leaders are unclear on the criteria by which decisions should be made. In high-performing teams, within and outside the business world, direction is explicit. Not a 200-page plan, but simple, strategic anchors:
- Where are we going?
- What matters most?
- What trade-offs are we willing to make?
When leaders define these early, decisions become much easier.
If decisiveness is a skill, it can be learned by anyone
The leaders who master this skill practise three habits consistently:
- They pause before reacting.
- They zoom out before zooming in.
- They communicate decisions as commitments, not predictions.
In a world where volatility is the only constant, decisive leadership is not about being right. It's about being ready, open-minded and humble. And since no one is born with decisiveness, that means every leader can absolutely build it. If we want more decisive leaders, we need to stop waiting for them to appear and start teaching the strategic, emotional, and cognitive practices that create them.
