"When You Get to the Fork in the Road...Take It"

Baseball legend Yogi Berra passed away recently. He was adored for his affable personality, how well he treated others, and crazy one-liners. Many "Yogi-isms" will live on for years and years. My favorite from Yogi is, "When you get to the fork in the road, take it."

We all find ourselves at a "fork in the road" from time to time. Do we go "left" and do "this?" or do we go "right" and do "that?" I've always tried to analyze the perceived pros and cons of all big decisions, think about the impact on those affected by the decision, do what I think is best at the time, and never look back. It's the "never looking back" part that is sometimes hard but I have found to be most necessary.

Big decisions often result in a change but sometimes they result in things staying the same too. After my 4th year as superintendent/principal in Franklin, Nebraska there was a job that opened up that I really wanted to pursue. I thought the location and size of the community would've been perfect. I researched it for a few days, made some calls, and was convinced I needed to be "all in" trying to become their next superintendent. I ran it by my wife and she simply said, "no - now is not the time." I was stunned but respected her thoughts. I shut it down and never looked back and didn't think about it again. The "big decision" made was to do nothing...to stay...and it worked out well as two years later my wife said it was time and we made the move to York, which we love.

Numerous big decisions come at us from all angles. Making big decisions is a primary duty of the superintendent. Most often the decisions that need to be made are professional. Sometimes they are personal. My best advice is to simply analyze the situation carefully, study the potential impact, make the best decision you can at the time, and move on. Don't look back and second-guess. Once you make a decision, you stick with it.

The world is full of "Monday Morning Quarterbacks" that can tell you that you made the wrong decision after the fact. It's easy to bat 1.000 after the fact. It takes guts to make big decisions before you know how they're going to play out. That's leadership. That's life.