As I Progressed in My Career, I Didn’t Even Realize This

As I progressed in my career, I didn’t even realize how the value of my decisions started increasing.

It’s a big responsibility.

One wrong decision, and the entire business suffers.

Now I understand why extremely high salaries for CEOs are totally justified.

The larger the company, the higher the compensation.

Why?

Sundar Pichai was paid $8.8 million as the CEO of Alphabet last year.

The company’s valuation is $1.97 trillion.

Just one wrong decision from him and if the company loses even 1% of its value, that’s a $20 billion loss.

Is his salary justified?

I’d say it absolutely is – in return for making the best possible decisions.

What Changed For Me?

Whenever my team asks me to review something, I realize I can’t just shrug and say, “Whatever! All good.”

A few years ago, I had no such responsibility.

I worked quietly on my tasks, without being bothered or bothering anyone.

Now?

• One wrong hire, and the entire team suffers.
• One wrong approval, and the business takes a hit.
• One wrong priority, and months of effort go down the drain.

The stakes are higher.

Every choice I make affects multiple people and long-term growth of business.

How I Am Taking It

I must say, it’s a privilege.

Not everyone gets to make decisions freely. Especially when it’s not your own business. Especially at such a young age!

But with great power, comes great responsibility.

1. Thinking long-term: Before making a decision, I consider its impact in a year or more, not just the immediate benefits.
2. Started considering data over gut-feeling: I am not at all an analytics or data person. But now I heavily use insights, trends, and numbers to back up decisions rather than relying solely on intuition.
3. Seeking diverse perspectives: Running decisions by experienced colleagues or mentors before finalizing is mostly helpful. I am not a founder so I still have extremely smart and experienced stakeholders to consult.
4. Owning the responsibility: I need to be accountable for its outcomes—good or bad. Earlier I used to feel that every decision has to be perfect and in my favor. Now I understand that not every decision has to go right. If we knew everything in advance, businesses would never fail.

The transition from executing tasks to making decisions is inevitable.

As you grow, your focus shifts from tasks to decision-making. Nobody tells you what to do. You need to be self-motivated and action-oriented.

The faster you embrace it, the better you’ll navigate leadership and growth.