I stood on my driveway with my daughter, and we looked at the freshly-painted window trim. Moments earlier, she had held the extension ladder while I applied paint via a roller affixed to the end of an 8-foot pole. Back safely on the ground, I wondered aloud about touching up a few small missed spots visible only from atop the 12-foot ladder. "It might look even better," I said.

"Or maybe you'll mess it up. It looks real good right now," she countered. "But it's your call."

Decisions, decisions. Ask people why they would enjoy climbing into a leadership position, and their honest response will often focus on authority to make decisions. Yet, ask leaders what feels heaviest about their roles, and the honest response will often focus on the weight associated with decision-making.

Is the decision a good one, or the wrong one? Is it more important to be decisive, or flexible? Is it more important to be timely, or thorough? Is it time to be bold, or to delegate? The trade-off list goes on and ...