Decisiveness

I’ve been reading an excellent book on management—The Speed of Trust, by Stephen M. R. Covey. Trust, the book’s sub-title claims, is “the one thing that changes everything,” the key to success and effectiveness in every organization and relationship. The book lists thirteen behaviors that have been proven to build trust, including Behavior #8: “Confront Reality,” which sheds a lot of light on one of the traits emphasized in the Jewish discipline of Mussar or character development. This is the trait of decisiveness.

The opposite of “Confront Reality” is “Avoid Reality,” and indecision (the opposite of decisiveness) is often a way to do just that.