Hi {{ Name | there }},
Two years ago, I watched a peer get promoted over me.
We had similar level of experience. Similar results. Same high-stakes project.
But when our VP asked for vendor recommendations, she responded in 24 hours with a clear point of view.
I said I needed more time to analyze.
A week later, I came back with my recommendation. Thorough. Well-researched.
But it didn't matter anymore.
She'd already made the call, the project had moved forward, and leadership saw her as someone who could decide under pressure.
I wasn't less smart. I didn't have worse judgment.
I just didn't have a framework for deciding quickly.
Here's what nobody tells you about decision-making:
It's not just about getting the right answer. It's about how decisiveness shapes whether people see you as leadership material.
Senior leaders don't have better information or more time. They just have a different framework for making calls under uncertainty.
So I built one.
And it's served me even more since becoming a mom - because now I'm not just deciding whether to greenlight a product launch or restructure my team.
I'm also deciding about childcare, schools, weekend travel, and whether saying yes to one thing means failing at another.
This framework helps Career Mama members:
Cut their decision time in half
Stop second-guessing themselves in front of leadership, and
Be present at home instead of mentally chewing on work decisions all weekend
Here are the two practices that changed everything:
#1 Name your decision type, then match your speed to it
Not all decisions deserve the same energy. But most people treat every choice like it's life-or-death.
I now ask: "Is this a one-way door or a two-way door?"
a) One-way doors = hard to reverse (hiring a senior leader, restructuring your team, major budget commitments)
→ Slow down. Get input. Sleep on it.
b) Two-way doors = easily reversible (testing a new tool, trying a different meeting format, piloting a process change)
→ Decide fast. Learn as you go. Adjust if needed.
#2 Use a "Spectator Test"
Here's what separates leaders from everyone else: they can distill complex decisions into clear, compelling narratives.
So now, when I'm stuck on any medium-stakes decision, I do something that feels uncomfortable at first: I record myself explaining the decision as if I'm briefing my team.
Thirty seconds max.
Voice memo. Video. Doesn't matter.
Just hit record and talk.
And if I can't make it compelling in that time, I don't actually have conviction yet.
This isn't about the recording itself; it's about forcing executive-level clarity.
A few months ago, a Career Mama member was stuck on feature prioritization for weeks - gathering input, building spreadsheets, polling stakeholders.
Then she recorded herself: "We're prioritizing the checkout flow fix because cart abandonment is costing us $50K monthly, and this gets us a win before Q4 planning." Thirty seconds. Clear reasoning.
She stopped gathering data and made the call that afternoon.
If you can't explain it clearly in thirty seconds, you either don't have enough clarity to decide, or the decision isn't worth the mental energy.
Do write back and let me know which one resonated more with you. See you next Thursday!
Cheers,
Shivani
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