Better to Make a Mistake Than Do Nothing At All

Not making a decision is as potentially damaging to a company as making a bad decision. It is easy to see how errors of omission could be made and go unnoticed until the consequences of inaction become apparent much later on. Many people, managers included, delay making decisions that are difficult or complicated. This delay may take the form of over-analyzing, mental procrastination, or hoping that the problem will simply "resolve itself" in time. In both one's personal and professional lives omissions usually lead to undesirable outcomes since no direct action was taken to avoid or change them.

Errors of commission, on the other hand, are easily made by pro-active people. Bad decisions can be due to haste, under-analyzing a situation, making a decision without first having all the facts or data. The results of these mistakes can be seen quickly and can often be traced back to a particular source or decision.

In today's rapidly changing business environment, errors of omission may perhaps take less time to notice that they did in the past, whereas errors of commission ma be easier to fix by making another hasty corrective decision. Although both types of errors have the potential to break a company, I think it would be more advantageous to act quickly and then make a corrective decision if necessary than to not act at all and watch your company slowly fade.