I don’t believe in taking right decisions – Ratan Tata

I don’t believe in taking right decisions: A fabulous inspirational quote by Ratan Tata talks about decisions in life and how we sometimes can get hung up in the notion of perfection. No decision will ever be perfect, we will always have something or the other to lose. The main point to remember in decision-making is the affordable loss. And most times, we don’t consider time lost in making decisions.

If you look deeper into this quote by Ratan Tata about decisions – I don’t believe in taking right decisions is referring to the time lost in the false perception of perfection. In some ways, it is better to identify a few parameters that you can be happy with and make a quick decision. Ultimately, your results lie in the actions you take and they have to be backed by good decisions. But these decisions can’t take forever.

I don’t believe in taking right decisions

The right decision is often overrated. I agree that we should take time to take the best decision we can. However, there’s a danger of analysis paralysis. We can’t be in a place where we are thinking so much that we don’t take a decision. This part of the quote – I don’t believe in taking right decisions reinforces the idea that a decision is only right at a certain point in time. There is no such thing as a perfect decision because things keep changing.

Most times, we take too much time to decide because we want it to be perfect. The best thing we can do in the interest of time is to make a good decision and not wait for the best decision. This doesn’t mean that we don’t do the due diligence needed to take a decision. We’ve got to put in the work. This quote is not about taking rash decisions. It is about ensuring that we don’t stay in an infinite indecision mode.

I take decisions and then make them right

This sounds a bit haughty. However, the idea is that even the most well thought out decisions have the potential to go wrong. Hence, our responsibility doesn’t end in taking the decisions. We ought to watch these decisions – check for feedback and adapt. The main work comes after we take the decision and work on it.

The crux of Ratan Tata’s quote – I don’t believe in taking the right decisions is that decisions are prone to be wrong. We should not waste a lot of time in taking the perfect decision because the biggest enemy is the loss of time. This will hurt us more in the long run as compared to making a quick decision. Some key parameters that help us understand the meaning of this quote better are:

• Speed of decision making: Time is of the greatest importance. You can’t afford to take forever to arrive at a decision. Quick decisions help us save time, get feedback and improve the quality of future decisions.
• Perfection is overrated: A timely decision is more important than a perfect decision. Obviously we don’t want to make mistakes But also, these decisions can’t be pointless. They have to serve the timeliness element.
• Learning from Decisions: Decision alone is not as important as our attitude and ability to learn. Good decision-making skills come from experience which usually comes from bad decisions.

It will never be perfect, but it will be your decision to own and move ahead. Time is the biggest and most important resource. We can’t afford to waste that.

I don’t believe in taking the right decisions, I take decisions and then make them right

It sounds completely uncharacteristic of Ratan Tata to have said this quote. At one end, I want to believe he said this because it talks about the power of conviction, belief and standing against the odds. On the other hand, his public presence has been of modesty, humility and simplicity which makes me question whether he said this.

However, I was a bit relieved when I found this video of Ratan Tata talking about this quote – I don’t believe in taking the right decisions. The most important take away for me from this video is the philosophy behind his decision making:

References:

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ratan_Tata
• https://www.forbes.com/profile/ratan-tata/