McClatchy - Decide: work smarter, reduce your stress, and lead by example

Steve's approach is not only hugely engaging but has an immediate impact on motivation and productivity. His book is the next best thing to having Steve in the room. I highly recommend it!

Christina Harper Elgarresta
Managing Director, Accenture

Decide delivers: If you're struggling to lead, not just manage; if you're frustrated that your very best results are just beyond reach; or if you're simply at war with your calendar, Steve McClatchy's new book is for you. Decide is a rare fresh take at some of the thorny problems that block our best work. But don't just take my word for it. Get your own copy, and you'll soon be ordering copies for your team as well.

Marshall Goldsmith
America's preeminent executive coach (Fast Company magazine)

Decide puts personal power squarely where it belongsin your hands. Follow Steve's advice, and you'll immediately see benefits that will change the way you plan, spend your time, and engage with others. To change your trajectory and start leading in all aspects of your life, all you have to do is decide.

Mary Davis Holt
Leadership coach, speaker, and best-selling coauthor of Break Your Own Rules

I have worked with Steve, and I can say firsthand that his approach has had a profound impact on every level of our organization. His methods are deeply insightful and tremendously impactful. I highly recommend Steve, his approach, and this book!

Luc Robitaille
President of Business Operations, Los Angeles Kings Hockey Club

In Decide, Steve McClatchy shows us that we can accomplish amazing things by aligning what we want to achieve with how we spend our time. Regardless of the industry or level of the reader, real benefits will be accomplished from Steve's advicean immensely practical guide!

Valerie Sutton
Director of Career Services, Harvard Graduate School of Education

As the late Professor Randy Pausch said, It's not how long you live, rather how well you live. Decide shows how we can all live more meaningful, productive lives simply by practicing better decision making. I invite youand your teamto start regaining control over your time and efforts by reading this important book.

Navi Radjou
Speaker, advisor, and best-selling author, including author of Jugaad Innovation and From Smart to Wise

World-class leadership is about making inspired and enlightened choices. With fresh stories and advice, McClatchy drills down to this idea by recommending daily habits that leaders at every level can use to their immediate benefit. Decide is a very worthy read on a critical subject.

Douglas R. Conant
Chairman of Avon Products, founder of Conant Leadership, and New York Times best-selling author of TouchPoints

Your success as a leader is as good as your decisions. McClatchy shows you how to make the decisions every day that will keep your business and you moving forward.

Elizabeth Walker
Vice President, Global Talent Management, Campbell Soup Company

If your intention is to gain from your life, and not just prevent the pain that often comes with it, then Decide is the book for you. Steve McClatchy reminds us that to achieve something of significance, we have to focus on things that matter. His new book is full of the practical wisdom that will enable you to end burnout and bring balance to your lifeand to find a path worthy of being followed. I absolutely recommend this book.

Jim Kouzes
Coauthor of The Leadership Challenge and Executive Fellow of Leadership, Leavey School of Business, Santa Clara University

Cover image and design: Paul McCarthy

Copyright 2014 by Steve McClatchy. All rights reserved.

Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey.

Published simultaneously in Canada.

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ISBN: 978-1-118-55438-8 (cloth)

ISBN: 978-1-118-77165-5 (ebk)

ISBN: 978-1-118-77167-9 (ebk)

To Lynn, Grace, Amy, Kyle, and Kelly,
for being the reason that I work hard, rush home, and smile.
Thank you for your confidence and trust,
your support, and your abundant love.
This book is for you.

The material in this book has been presented to high-level executives as well as high school and college students and people in every stage of life in between, over the past 12 years. It is a message of leadership that everyone can relate to in their own way because everyone has the opportunity to be a leader, whether it's for a team of professionals or in their own lives.

Decide aims to help readers lead toward improvement in their business and their life by teaching them how to make better decisions based on the real results they want to experience. Decide explores what drives us to do the things we do each day. It explains that the things we don't have to do at all matter the most in defining us as leaders and as individuals. It explains how to achieve balance in our lives through better decision making, rather than waiting for an employer to provide it for us. It presents readers with a perspective on the different ways we create the energy we need to get through each dayincluding accomplishments and procrastinationand challenges readers to make a choice on how to get theirs. It presents an understanding of the value of time from an opportunity cost perspective and how our understanding of that value determines how we will spend our lives. It offers valuable advice on prioritizing, planning, managing interruptions, and organizing to provide real-life practical skills to apply in order to get more done in less time, reduce stress, and complete the things we have to do so we can have more time for the things that make life worth living. And last, it offers an explanation of how our decision-making habits shape our lives and relationships in the long run.