All leaders know this feeling.

Someone asks you for a decision; you need to figure out whether to pull the trigger on an opportunity, to hire someone, fire someone, to move facilities, add a service, decide on a vision, mission, or strategy, and you don’t know what to do.

These moments feel like all of life slows down, and you move through the stages of grief.

That might be overly dramatic, but that is how it can feel.

You are the leader. Which means you are supposed to have the answer.

It feels like everyone is watching you and waiting on you.

It is okay in these moments to say, “I don’t know” or, “I need more time.”

A delayed answer is better than the wrong answer.

All leaders must learn how to lead through uncertainty and question marks. You have to lead when you don’t have all the answers or even all the information.

Many of the decisions I have regretted are the ones where I made a decision too quickly, without sleeping on it or spending any time to think through it. Honestly, it’s because I felt like if I didn’t jump on this opportunity or make this choice, I might miss out on something.

Would I miss something?

Maybe.

But the reality is that maybe I wouldn’t have. Maybe waiting would have revealed that I was making a mistake.

Yes, some leaders are paralyzed and don’t decide, so they miss things. But many leaders know the pain of a decision made too quickly. One that was a reaction, out of anger or fear or one that could’ve waited.