Make sound and timely decisions

The leader must be able to rapidly estimate a situation and make a sound decision based on that estimation. Hesitation or reluctance to make a decision leads subordinates to lose confidence in your abilities as a leader.

Back to the universal principles

Calibration

Under, just right, over.

Situation	Under	Just Right	Over
Someone junior has the fact	Treats rank as the argument and keeps the original call.	Lets the fact win in the room, says what changed, and moves the decision.	Opens a second debate after the fact is already in, so the team leaves with no call.
A room that already agrees	Takes the agreement as proof and locks the path.	Asks who would bet against it, and what evidence would change the call, before locking it.	Keeps hunting dissent after a real objection has been answered, and the work waits.
A question the data can settle	Runs the meeting on opinions when a test or the arithmetic would settle it.	Runs the test or does the math, and uses judgment only for the part that remains.	Refuses to decide the leftover until every unknown is gone, including ones that do not change the call.
You were wrong last week	Hopes nobody notices, or defends the old call so it still looks consistent.	Says the miss in the same week, names the better path, and switches to it.	Spends the week narrating the miss and does not make the next call.
A hunch after the fact showed up	Drops the hunch at the first objection and asks someone else to decide.	Names the hunch, the fact that cuts against it, and which one the decision now follows.	Keeps the hunch after the fact has cut it down, and calls that instinct.
Defending the plan you already announced	Treats the announcement as the reason to stay, and argues with the new evidence.	Updates the plan in public and says which assumption was wrong.	Reverses the plan on every new comment, so nobody can tell which evidence mattered.
A thread that needs a decision	Lets the thread sit. People keep adding comments instead of making a call.	Names the decision, picks a reversible option with the information already in the thread, and writes what would change it.	Closes the thread with a snap decision that ignores a constraint someone already raised there. The team spends the rest of the week undoing the work.
Another round of research	Starts more research when the open questions would not change this week's action.	Stops the research once it will not move the decision, starts the reversible work, and leaves a note on what is still unknown.	Skips the afternoon of research that would have answered the one real risk. Someone else has to clean up the mistake.
Unblocking yourself	Waits for the owner to return before touching work that is stuck. Nothing moves for the week.	Tries a cheap path that can be reversed, and tells the owner what they did.	Forces a path the owner had already ruled out. The owner spends their first day back cleaning it up.
The plan breaks midweek	Freezes until a new plan is approved. The remaining days are spent waiting.	Picks a next step that is cheap to try and easy to reverse, and tells the people who were working on the old plan.	Scraps the plan and starts a new one the same day without checking who is already partway through the old one. Their work no longer fits.
One more review before acting	Adds another review because it feels safer. The action waits for a slot that is not this week.	Takes the review that would catch a mistake that is hard to undo, and skips the rest so the work can start.	Skips the review that was going to catch a known risk. The people who would have flagged it find out after the cost is real.
A choice that can be undone	Treats a reversible choice like a strategy decision. Days go to alignment the choice does not need.	Picks one, starts, and watches. Changes it if the first days show it is wrong.	Flips the choice twice in one week. People stop trusting the direction and redo work each time.
Work that is ready enough to share	Holds the draft until it is polished. Reviewers have nothing to react to this week.	Shares the rough version early enough that feedback can still change it, and says what is still unfinished.	Sends half formed work to a wide list so it looks like progress. People spend time commenting on parts they already knew were wrong.
A small fix in front of you	Files it for later and lives with the friction for the rest of the week.	Fixes the reversible part now, and leaves a note if a larger change still needs a decision.	Reworks the surrounding process in the same sitting. People who used the old path are surprised and lose time.

Further reading

Sources and essays on this principle.

Officership Foundations, The Basic School
The published wording of this principle, in numbered doctrine order.
marines.mil
MCWP 6-10 Leading Marines
Doctrine that covers the leadership principles and the traits they rest on.
marines.mil
MCDP 6 Command and Control
The doctrine for reaching a sound decision faster than the other side.
marines.mil