No U-turns

In business, just as in politics, leaders often have to make difficult decisions without the benefit of a detailed understanding of the potential outcomes. Countries and companies are complex beasts, and any change in policy can have effects that ripple through their many strands and structures, throwing up unforeseen consequences.

But when a leader recognises that a decision they’ve made is the wrong one and changes tack, they are routinely castigated and accused of making a U-turn – as if this is automatically a bad thing. Often such criticism comes from the very same people who pointed out the decision was wrong in the first place.