Chick-fil-a Leadercast pt2

Last week I got to attend the Chick-fil-a Leadercast at one of their remote broadcast locations. There was a lot to absorb, so I'm trying to really focus in on just a couple of the lessons I learned. I wrote about the first lesson in a previous post. Here's the second lesson:

This year's Chick-fil-a Leadercast was focusing on choices, so the various speakers spoke on making choices, dealing with choices already made, and examples of choices they've made. Andy Stanley opened the conference talking about how to go about making the 'best' decision. He said there are three questions to add to our 'arsenal of decision-making questions:'

1) What would my replacement do?
     Andy did a great job explaining this question when he said, "This question immediately brings objectivity to the decision-making process." Sometimes we get wrapped up in the making a decision based upon what the supposed expectations are, or in the ways we've always made decisions. For instance, if I always were to answer 'yes' to a certain type of request, but my replacement would answer 'no,' why should I wait until I get replaced for the answer to be 'no'? 

2) What would a great leader do?
      If Abraham Lincoln or Benjamin Franklin were here in my shoes, facing this decision, what would they decide? Trying to take the perspective of a leader you admire and look up to helps to "eliminate self-imposed expectations and limitations. This question will reveal to you the chance to become a great leader." Often times, our decision making process is tainted by selfish desires, conscious or not. The heroes we look up to are heroes because they make selfless decisions. Would Superman put in an extra hour at The Daily Planet or would he go home to his kids (assuming of course he had kids)?

3) What story do I want to tell?
     Despite how glamorous and immediate a big decision may be, "every decision you make will end up being nothing more than a part of a story you tell." We all have a story to tell, and our story is comprised of the decisions we made to get us to where we are. Think through the decision and ask yourself, "Do I really want this to be a part of my story?" Andy made a hard-hitting point, "Don't choose anything that will make you a liar for life." We have an idea of what we want our story to be, but sometimes the decisions we make go contrary to that desire, and the temptation is to cover up the decision to make the story fit better. Don't start lying your way through life, instead make a decision you want in your story.

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If you were to look at an org-chart, I'm pretty low on the totem pole, but these three questions are applicable to even me. Even if I don't make business decisions for my organization, I do make decisions about my life and my family. These questions will help me become a great leader of myself and my family.