Picture
CEO of a major corporation. Say his office and those of his principal staff occupy top two floors of building they own in New York. When a major decision is to be made, CEO calls together key people on his staff most likely to be of help. Then he asks for their views. Will these experienced, talented, and well-paid people provide information required to move decisively?
It's unlikely. Here's why.
Gathering A Consensus
Suppose inherent political in-fighting characteristic of this level of enterprise is absent. Suppose each person at table really wants to get it right. And suppose CEO is a good listener, a person who seriously wants to make best move.
To extent issue relates to core business, views will differ. Reconsidering goals of advertising department, for example, is nearly bound to bring disagreement, even argument.
Opinions Rule
We can't know it all. Nobody can. To fill in gaps, we have opinions. And they're handy, when hard info is lacking. The more complex problem to be solved, more likely opinion will best define much of input.
In end, CEO must decide. It's a lonely position to be in. First he must separate fact from opinion as possible. And he must consider what he knows of person who voiced each view. And he must seek to retain support of these people he depends upon, whatever he decides.
It's unlikely there is anyone close at hand to help even in sorting out his own thinking. Let alone in evaluation of information provided. Not a fun position to be in.
You And Your Business
While you probably have not given yourself a title, you are CEO of your business. And at times, it's a very lonely position. The same position ascribed to hypothetical CEO above. Loaded with same elements of uncertainty.
You also have solid information. And you also fill in blanks with opinion. But if what you have is not sufficient to deal with a specific problem, you'll need to hunt up further information.
Since you don't have a team of qualified people handy, you'll likely turn to Web and poke about as possible. If your concern is need for better advertising results, you may see things such as ...
> At $299 per year, Yahoo provides best ROI on Web.
> Let Overture.com double your sales in six months
> Banner ads are making a comeback; don't be left out
> Paid submissions at Inktomi are only way to go
> Ezine advertising gives best return on dollar
