You Will Never Have Enough Information
You Still Have to Make Decisions
We hear it all the time: “Don’t make a decision until you have all the information.” But let’s be honest—when do we ever have all the information?
The reality is, waiting for complete certainty is a losing strategy. If you hold off until you know everything, you’ll never make a move. Instead, the goal is to make decisions when you have “enough” information to believe the odds of success are in your favor. That’s it.
What Is Enough?
“Enough” isn’t a helpful word, because it means pretty much anything you want. In this case, I use that term because it really depends on the type of decision you are making.
Low stakes decisions, ones without significant impact – either short- or long-term – require a much lower threshold for having enough information. Deciding where to order lunch from or what font to use on the sign in the breakroom are probably two examples of low stakes decisions. There is no need to do a deep dive on information gathering for these types of things.
High-stakes decisions that have major impact on individuals or organizations have a much higher threshold. Laying off or terminating someone, shutting down a project when it is near completion, etc. These are things that have long lasting impacts and severe impacts on people. You want to have as much information as possible to make these decisions.
The reality is that most decisions are somewhere in the middle. Not quite as anodyne as ordering lunch, but not quite as severe as laying off a group of people. This makes the information gather part much more difficult to ascertain. I’d love to provide you with a formula, but the reality is that it is something that comes with experience.
When Do You Have Enough Information?
Two key factors determine when it’s time to decide:
The Deadline Factor
If a decision has a firm deadline, your job is to gather as much relevant information as possible within that timeframe. When the deadline arrives, you make the best choice with what you have. The luxury of more time isn’t an option.The Effort-to-Value Balance
At a certain point, gathering more information takes significant time and resources but adds little value. If the additional effort isn’t likely to change your decision—or if the cost of waiting outweighs the benefit of learning more—it’s time to act.
The Reality of Decision-Making
A common trap for new managers is the fear of making a decision without total certainty. But no decision will ever come with a 100% guarantee. You won’t know what will happen tomorrow, and waiting won’t change that—because there is *always* another unknown tomorrow.
Making decisions with incomplete information is a requirement of leadership. The best managers recognize when they have enough insight to make an informed choice, trust their judgment, and move forward with confidence.
The Takeaway
If you’re holding off on making a decision, ask yourself:
Is this a low-stakes or high-stakes decision? Most likely it is somewhere in the middle.
Do I have a deadline? If so, have I gathered the best information I can before it arrives?
Am I at the point where getting more information would take significant effort without changing the outcome?
If the answer to either of the last two questions is yes, it’s time to decide.
Conclusion
The best leaders don’t wait for perfect clarity—they act when the odds are in their favor. And that’s what separates a hesitant manager from a decisive one.
If it something happens later and the decision ends up being the wrong one, the only question to ask is “Could I have possibly known that information before I made the decision?” Most times, it was not something you could have known. Learn from it, but don’t beat yourself up.