"The Earth was without form and void. And God said..."
At work, we're faced with a decision. We have the opportunity to hire someone new, or not. There really aren't any other available answers besides Yes and No. We can't defer, procrastinate, do a half-yes, yes...but, or if...yes. We just have a decision to make that comes down to either "Yes, go for it" or "No, we're going to pass".
There are a hundred reasons to say yes. There are a hundred reasons to say no. And some of the 'yes' reasons are exactly the same as the 'no'. We've done due diligence to make sure that the candidate we're looking at has a good reputation and does what he says he does. We've looked at his customer base, character and reputation, plan for success, resources he will need and impact on our current infrastructure. There are many valid reasons to 'go for it', or not.
It's my tendency to go for it, and many times in my career I have made that decision when it was up to me. Many times, the yes answer turned out to be exactly the right answer, and really good things happened in business and in the lives of the people involved. Risk is rewarded. Other times, well, bad decisions made with the best intentions hurt and are destructive. There are a couple of major ones that I wish I could have back - and a couple that I ran from making that should have been made years earlier. Life is unapologetically cruel to those who make poor decisions.
To the best of my knowledge, nobody in the history of modern thought has come up with a math equation or algorithm that makes these kinds of decisions correctly. I have invested in more than one magic wand and several crystal balls, and FYI, they don't work. My heart and worldview are a compass, and they guide me, but they do not come with a warranty, and I can't sue anybody when they guide me wrongly.
I wonder how long God looked at the void that was would be Creation before he said, "Go For It: Let There Be Light!" and all that is, suddenly was, and what will have been is given dimension and form.
Had He said, "No, we're going to pass," the void would still be void, the status quo would not have been shaken, and I would not have the opportunity to make any decisions at all.
Creation, genesis of Good, possibility and intention, faith and hope, achievement and growth, pride and confidence only come from the "Yes" side of questions like we are faced with just now. "No" cannot possibly deliver these benefits, even if 'no' is the right answer. Maybe that is why God spoke into the darkness and created the light.
And maybe that's why I have trouble saying, "No".