Dhoni’s house stoned

(The Times of India : Sep-15 - 2012 )

Cricket fans stoned Dhoni’s house after the T20 loss to Pakistan in the final yesterday. With just 18 runs to score of the last three overs; and 4 wickets in hand , the Indian tail order collapsed. Columnists, few senior players and fans have criticised the choice of players chosen by Dhoni who they say has taken a gamble along with the selectors.

However Ravi Shastri contended that it was Dhoni’s choice of players that brought India to the final after beating Australia and England; despite non-availability of Key players.
A few veterans like Sunil Gavaskar,Srikanth and Kumble also voiced their frustration at the media and crickets fans who seem to have forgotten all the praise they had showered on the Indian Captain after the World Cup Victory at Wankhede in Apr-2011. Kumble appreciated Dhoni’s ability to make decisions when they “have to be made” particularly when key players like Yuvraj and Zaheer were injured.
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Folks ; am no serious cricket fan nor is this about cricket ; but thought this was a way to reflect on;
How often do we recognize decision makers ?

In an organizational context decision making is often a difficult task; and also easy to side-step and postpone. The consequences of poor decision making are of course bad; but worse are the consequences of not making decisions at all .
Here am not talking only about major policy level decisions but day to day routine issues that have to be resolved by making decisions.

It is a fact that there is never enough comprehensive data or time where every minute aspect can be analysed ; nor is there always a clear precedent; but decisions have to be made. Not many stand up to this challenge.
Good decision makers in my opinion, use available data and extrapolate; they are not worried about precedents; they take Business & Human aspects into consideration and take responsibility for their decisions.

Precious ‘Management time’ is wasted when people who are empowered by superiors still tend to pass-on the ‘gauntlet’ of basic decision making back to the superior.

Poor decision makers also never question the existing procedures(that do not work well) ; agree to status-quo for fear of being asked to take a decision. The tragedy is that these safe-players go undetected; and moreover are liked by many as they never ask for “traumatic change”.

Empowered people must make decisions based on his/her knowledge and experience. It is also upto the management to provide the requisite support and recognize the reasons for those decisions taken.
Decision makers take decisions despite the fear of ridicule, they want to move on; are constantly looking for improvements and provide a beacon of light when it is murky all around.
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And as to Dhoni ….Cheers for having made it to the final in the 2012 -T20. Best wishes for the next match and for leading India as only he can.