Employ the Dagger
The Power of Decisive Leadership
Leadership is often seen as a balancing act—guiding your team with care, listening to different viewpoints, and making well-considered decisions. But there comes a time in every leader’s journey when deliberation has to end, and action must be taken. That’s where employing the dagger comes in.
The phrase “employ the dagger” might sound aggressive, but it’s not about ruthlessness. It’s about decisiveness. It’s about having the courage to act in those critical moments when hesitation could mean missing an opportunity—or even inviting failure. In leadership, as in life, there are times when you have to move forward, even if the path ahead isn’t perfectly clear.
The Courage to Decide
Decisiveness is a fundamental quality of effective leadership, but it’s also one of the hardest to master. It’s easy to get stuck in analysis paralysis, where the fear of making the wrong decision keeps you from making any decision at all. But great leaders understand that not acting is often the worst choice of all.
Think of a moment when you’ve had to make a tough call. Maybe it was choosing between two strategic directions for your company or having to let go of a key employee who wasn’t a good fit. These are the moments when leadership demands decisiveness. And here’s the truth: You won’t always have all the information. You won’t always be 100% sure. But leaders who employ the dagger trust their judgment and act.
Why Decisiveness Matters
1. Momentum Is Key: Leadership is about keeping things moving. Whether you’re driving a project forward, building a business, or leading a team, progress requires momentum. Decisiveness is what keeps that momentum going. When you act, you create a ripple effect—your team feels the shift, and things start to move.
Conversely, indecision stalls everything. It creates a vacuum where uncertainty festers, and that uncertainty can be more damaging than a wrong decision. The best leaders know when to pull the trigger, keeping their team and their mission moving forward.
2. Clarity Through Action: Sometimes, the path forward only becomes clear once you’ve taken the first step. Waiting for perfect clarity before you act will often leave you stuck. Employing the dagger means understanding that action often creates clarity. When you make a decision, you learn from the outcomes, adjust, and continue. Decisive leaders aren’t afraid to make mid-course corrections, but they know that standing still is never an option.
3. Building Trust: A decisive leader inspires confidence. Your team looks to you not just for guidance, but for action. They need to know that when the chips are down, you’ll make the tough calls. Leaders who hesitate or waver erode trust. Decisiveness, even in difficult situations, builds credibility and fosters a culture where people feel secure knowing that someone is at the helm, ready to steer the ship through rough waters.
Leading with Precision, Not Ruthlessness
It’s important to understand that employing the dagger doesn’t mean swinging it wildly. It’s not about being ruthless or making decisions without thought. In fact, the opposite is true—decisiveness is about precision. It’s about knowing when to act and when to wait, but never waiting out of fear.
Take tough conversations, for example. Letting someone go is never easy, but when an employee is hurting the team’s performance or undermining the culture, decisive action is necessary. Delaying or avoiding that decision doesn’t make it go away; it just makes the problem worse. A leader who employs the dagger knows when it’s time to act and does so with clarity and empathy, not brutality.
The same goes for strategy. There will be moments when the direction you’re heading no longer serves the organization, and a pivot is needed. Leaders who wait too long to course-correct—hoping that things will magically improve—often find themselves too far off track to recover. But those who can decisively shift gears, even when it’s uncomfortable, are the ones who keep their businesses thriving.
The High Cost of Hesitation
Leaders who hesitate or defer decisions indefinitely are doing more harm than they realize. When you fail to act, you send a message to your team: that you’re unsure, that you don’t trust your own judgment, or worse, that you’re afraid. This uncertainty trickles down and creates an environment of indecision throughout the organization.
Think about a time when you were waiting for someone else to make a decision—maybe a boss, a partner, or even a peer. The longer you waited, the more frustrated you became, and the more chaotic the situation felt. Leadership is no different. Your team is counting on you to provide direction and make the calls that will keep the mission on track. When you employ the dagger, you give your team the clarity and focus they need to move forward confidently.
Practicing Decisiveness
Decisiveness isn’t a trait you’re born with—it’s a skill you can develop. Here’s how to start:
1. Trust Your Gut: Often, your instincts are more reliable than you give them credit for. While data and analysis are critical, don’t ignore the value of your intuition. If something feels off, it probably is. Great leaders trust their gut when making tough decisions.
2. Prepare to Adjust: Employing the dagger doesn’t mean being reckless or rigid. It means being willing to act, knowing that you can adjust along the way. Build flexibility into your decisions, and remember that the ability to adapt is just as important as the ability to decide.
3. Learn from the Outcomes: Not every decision will be the right one, and that’s okay. The key is learning from the outcomes and applying those lessons to future decisions. Decisive leaders aren’t afraid to fail—they know that every decision, good or bad, moves them closer to success.
4. Create a Decision Framework: Decisiveness doesn’t mean winging it. Create a framework for decision-making that you can rely on when things get tough. Whether it’s a checklist, a set of guiding principles, or a trusted process, having a framework ensures that your decisions are grounded in logic and values, even when the stakes are high.
The Dagger in Practice
At B:Side, we live this philosophy every day. As a leader in SBA lending, we can’t afford to sit back and wait for perfect conditions. Whether it’s helping a small business navigate the loan process or adjusting to new economic conditions, our success depends on our ability to make tough calls quickly. We don’t hesitate. We act, we learn, and we move forward.
Employing the dagger isn’t about being ruthless, but it is about being bold. It’s about making the hard decisions that others avoid and trusting that the lessons learned along the way will guide you to better outcomes in the future.
So, the next time you’re faced with a tough decision, remember this: Leadership isn’t about knowing all the answers. It’s about having the courage to act when it matters most. The dagger is in your hands—use it wisely.