Six Gun in the Holster of Power.

'I understand executive decision making - which is making tough calls in tough times with high stakes for which you're prepared to be held accountable.'

- Carly Fiorina, former CEO of Hewlett Packard, responding to a question as to why she may nominate for election as President of the United States.
 

Ms Fiorina declares that the quality that makes her the best person to lead the most powerful nation in the world is her understanding of decision making.

Her statement reveals why decision making is so poorly understood and executed and therefore why so many people are unhappy in their work.

Ms Fiorina is confident that good decision making is such a rare and precious quality that her possession of it makes her stand out from an already élite class - presidential candidates.

She comfortably assumes that the 240 million American voters will nod in agreement.

'Goodness! She knows about decision making! Let's make her President!'

Not just any sort of decision making - executive decision making. Apparently that's a superior form of decision making than the decision making on the factory floor.

You and I could never dream to understand executive decision making so best stand back and clutch our pearls as Ms Fiorina and all the bosses and other clever people take charge and command our timid souls what to do.
 

This cult of the hero leader - the tough decision maker making tough calls in tough times with high stakes - is at the heart of so much organisational failure and personal dissatisfaction. 

It reinforces the myth that decision making is the six gun in the holster of Power.

Instead of the Five Steps  we each can take towards where we want to be.