Leah Meranus: Decide to Trust Your Gut
You have ten decisions to make in three hours. How do you start?
On the WomenHeard: Changemakers podcast, host Georgia Galanoudis speaks with Leah Meranus, CEO of North America at dentsu X, a global media agency within dentsu that powers Fortune 500 companies such as LVMH and Toyota, along with industry leaders like Nintendo. The conversation will give listeners all sorts of insights about the process and power of decision-making. Here’s a taste of what you can expect to hear.
Making Decisions
How does Meranus begin tackling her ten decisions? First, she acknowledges that the people around her trust her knowledge, which, over time and through experience, has translated into a reliable gut instinct. But more than that, she balances her instincts with data. After identifying which tasks can be delegated and which require further discussion, she reaches out to her peers. “Don’t get caught in your own echo chamber,” Meranus says, emphasizing the importance of consulting with a sounding board on the decisions that can’t be delegated.
Communicating Your Decisions
With the ten decisions in place, it’s time to communicate them—whether to the masses or to a small group of trusted peers. “Sharing information is a lesson in how much and when to convey,” Meranus says. You must balance the trust of your sounding board with the trust of those who will soon be informed. Reveal too much too soon, and you risk breaking the confidentiality entrusted by your decision-making board. Reveal too little too late, and you could jeopardize the bonds with those who thought you were in it together. As Meranus puts it, “Communication needs to be timely. Communication needs to be transparent—especially when it comes to difficult decisions.”
Meranus’s final word of advice on sharpening your decision-making instincts: “If someone sees it in you, see it in yourself and go for it.”
Thanks to Leah Meranus for joining us! For the full interview, listen to NYWICI’s WomenHeard podcast.
