To lead an organization that’s changing and growing fast, you have to be as skilled at breaking plans as you are at making them.

Every day, there are new competitors, new threats, new opportunities — and no simple, straightforward set of marching orders. It’s more like a dogfight, and you and your team will be flying upside down and at an angle sometimes. 

Sheryl Sandberg has been in the pilot seat for two massive growth operations – Google AdWords, in the early 2000s, and then the scale-up of Facebook. As Reid puts it in this Masters of Scale episode, Sheryl is one of those gifted leaders who’s made daring decisions at every level of scale. We're re-running the episode today to share these lessons of Sheryl's undeniable expertise in scaling organizations.

Bob Safian notes in his introduction to this classic episode that, at time of this recording, many of Facebook's toughest challenges were still on the horizon. But the stories and choices that Sheryl and Reid talk about here are as relevant as ever. Listen with open ears and a critical eye; we hope you come away feeling wiser.

Building on this, two guests share the importance of making quick decisions — and the significance of quickly turning to a new direction when the previous decision no longer serves your organization.

Today’s Action Item is called “Make a smarter calendar.” Here’s how it works:

Open each calendar invite for today (or the next few), and ask yourself: What decision do we need to make in this meeting? And (this is important) write it down. 

Force yourself to end each meeting with a decision. If you find yourself saying “I need to think about it,” then decide on a specific step that can be taken to move your thinking along. What facts do you need? Whose opinion must you know? Empower your team to take that step and then come back to you, so you can decide, decide, decide.

What did you learn from this exercise? Let us know on LinkedIn. Tag us @MastersofScale so we see you!

This exercise appears in Day 5 of The Mindset of Scale course. You can find it in the Masters of Scale Courses app, available for iOS & for Android.