Pivot Points

Five Decisions Every Successful Leader Must Make

Described as "a roadmap for transforming ambition into achievement", this book focuses on practical ideas for people who want to be better leaders. The author interviewed leaders who are "proven, but without the swagger of self-importance" and from these conversations identified five specific decision points that make the key difference.

Crucial decisions

Tang Peters calls pivot points the opportunities where you can choose to make the story instead of the story making you. They help you to focus on the things that truly matter and are essentially about the five questions everyone should ask themselves about their work and career.

They stand out because in doing so you are holding yourself accountable for what matters to you. Because of that, pivot decisions can unloose a surprising reserve of energy and leadership potential and so produce outcomes that exceed your goals.

The 5 pivot points

These decision points are not necessarily linear and can occur in a zig-zag fashion.

1. The launching decision makes a commitment to master a subject and do more than just your job. So, everybody needs to ask, “What do I want to be great at that is worth the commitment of massive amounts of my time and energy?”
2. The turning point decision acts on an important opportunity or problem that creates a bold new direction. The question here is, “What problem do you want to solve or condition do you want to improve that gives you the verve to pass this test?”
3. The tipping point decision, involving significant risk, breaks through a fundamental barrier. Ask yourself, “What fundamental barrier stands between me and a tipping point, which I want to break through to get to the next level?”
4. The re-commitment decision focuses on purpose-driven leadership and sharpens the vision, moving the goal posts further out. Everyone after significant years of work should ask themselves, “What’s next? Do I keep at this, and if so, what do I want to accomplish? If not, how do I need to recommit to myself?"
5. The letting go decision facilitates new sustainable leadership and moving on. There comes the time when we all need to ask, “How do I both leave a legacy and personally move on?”

"Experience is not what happens to a man.
It is what a man does with what happens to him."