Writing Topic: Do you agree or disagree with the following statement: One quality that a successful leader must have is to make decisions quickly; when a leader takes too much time to make decisions, he will be seen as ineffective to the people he leads.
Sample Essay:
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Of all the skills that contribute to a leader’s success, such as confidence, tenacity and keen insight, the ability to make wise decisions has always been regarded as an indispensable quality. While there are circumstances in which excellence is determined by how quickly the leader makes decisions, I do believe that, most of time, taking time to make decisions will not be seen as ineffective since good judgments always require deliberation and full-scale evaluation.
Indeed, in a few cases, a successful leader must make decisions quickly in response to the ever-changing outside environment. Especially in the commercial industry, a prominent leader ought to capture the most transient economic opportunities before its rivals in order to dominate the market. For instance, the social networks in my country were not well developed five years ago. My uncle, who was the CEO of a computer software company, keenly realized the great potentials of the development of social networks and shifted the company’s focus to this area before any other competitors. As a result, the first social networking system, developed by his company, won tremendous success; his company now ranks top 10 in the nation.
However, for the majority of leaders, making decisions requires careful weighing of the pros and cons; thus, it is plausible that it takes time to make up one’s mind. Because most decisions have long-lasting and profound influence on the lives of others, making decisions quickly would be considered hasty in most cases. At the end of the World War II, the US president faced a dilemma; should the US drop the atomic bomb to force Japan to surrender? Being a successful leader, he did not settle on the issue rapidly; instead, he organized numerous meetings with his consultants, asked the opinions of allied countries, and considered both the advantages and the downsides of his decision back and forth for days. The dropping of the atomic bombs, though still controversial today, finally brought the bloody and destructive war to an end.
Furthermore, a thoughtful leader should not jump to the conclusion to an issue because decisions often may incur a heavy cost. If decisions are made in a short period of time, they mostly lack deliberation and ignore the high expenses of such an action. For example, implementation of social welfare is considered a slow process. It may take a president some years to finally carry out such a fundamental government project to provide aids for housing, food and medical care for people who live below the poverty line. The president has to realize the high cost of the social welfare and its pressure on the tax payers. Therefore, it may take a president a lot of time to weigh the true values of this program in comparison to its high price.
In brief, I do believe that despite few circumstances, a successful leader should take time to make final decisions and should not be considered ineffective for such deliberation, for careful judgments of the costs and effects are required.
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