Go Ahead and Do It

"If it's a good idea, go ahead and do it. It is much easier to apologize than it is to get permission." - Admiral Grace Hopper

This quote almost feels like bad advice. But upon second look, I don't think that it is. The admiral is telling you that if faced with a choice of making a decision to do something without permission, if it is a good idea, then you should go ahead and do it. It is better to take the chance of being wrong than to miss an opportunity when you can grasp it.

I think this quote is great advice for leaders. It is something that anyone in management is faced with on a regular basis. If you are left in charge, you will have to make decisions without the leadership of your superiors. That is why they gave you a management roll.

I work retail and I am in charge of a crew who stocks shelves. I often have to decide what to do with stock that comes in that we don't have space for in the normal spots. Sometimes this will lead me to make a special display for upcoming sales just to get the stock out of the stockroom. Now I make these decisions knowing that my boss may come in the next morning and tell me to take down what I have taken the time to put together. Sometimes I fins that my work is for nothing. But, other times the work is noticed and appreciated and it leaves my stockroom clean and empty, just the way it is supposed to be.

When the Admiral made this statement, I wonder how many of his decisions without permissions dealt with the life and death of his soldiers. I don't know if I could make those kinds of decisions. It takes a stronger man that me to put someone's life at risk to do a particular job. That is why he is a Military Admiral and I am a Retail Manager.