My Decision, My Neck

Some decisions do not have a perfect answer.

The data may be complete. The options may be clear. But someone still has to choose.

What price should we set? What margin should we accept? Should we scale a project or stop it? Should we make an acquisition?

Data can help with all of these questions. It cannot make the final call for us.

Data first. Decision next.

Judgment does not mean ignoring data or trusting your gut.

We should do the work first. Look at the numbers. Ask questions. Use AI. Understand the risks.

Then decide.

The problem starts when we keep asking for more analysis even though it will not change the answer. Sometimes we need another report. Sometimes we are simply waiting because we do not want to be wrong.

If the report decides, we can blame the report. If we decide, we have to own it.

Rules cannot understand every situation

Take a simple travel policy.

For a routine field visit, the basic flight and hotel may be the right choice. Before a major negotiation or an important morning on stage, a better hotel may be worth the extra money because being rested matters that day. In some cases, even business class may be the right call.

The policy sees the cost. It does not see the full situation. A person has to use judgment.

But context cannot become an excuse for taking a perk. If I choose the expensive hotel, I should say why. I should be ready to answer questions. If it was a bad call, I should own that too.

The freedom to decide must come with the responsibility to explain the decision.

A decision needs an owner

We made a large acquisition recently. I asked the person driving it whether they were willing to take it on the chin if it went wrong.

I was not asking them to predict the future. Nobody could know for certain whether the deal would work.

I was asking something simpler: are you willing to say, "My decision"?

If the deal goes wrong and the answer is "we all decided," nobody has to study the mistake closely. But if one person owns the call, that person can go back and ask: What did I know? What did I assume? What did I miss? What will I do differently next time?

That is how judgment improves.

It is like learning a handstand. You fall many times before you learn how to hold it. There is no way to build the skill without being visibly wrong along the way.

Ownership is not punishment

This part matters.

If every good-faith decision that fails is punished, people will stop making visible decisions. They will hide behind policies, data, and group agreement.

That is not what I want at Cars24.

A decision made honestly and in good faith will not be treated as a crime just because it was wrong. We will still review it honestly. The point is to learn, not to find someone to blame.

What the Builder owns, and what I own

I have told the team that the wins are yours and the misses are mine. I still mean it.

The Builder closest to the problem owns the decision. They own the reasoning and the learning if the call goes wrong.

I own the company outcome.

If the acquisition fails, I cannot push the whole result onto the person who made the call. I chose the people. I helped build the system in which the decision was made. If that system made a bad decision easier, that is also my responsibility.

The Builder owns the call. I own what it means for Cars24.

This is not about moving blame down the company. It is about being clear about who must learn from the decision and who remains responsible for the company.

Why AI makes this more important

At Cars24, AI already leads most inspections, reviews almost all our code, and runs customer conversations from start to finish.

AI can analyse data, compare options, and draft a policy. It can do this quickly.

But AI cannot own the result.

If an acquisition fails, the model does not carry the consequence. If the expensive hotel was the wrong choice, the model does not answer for it. A person does.

As analysis becomes easier, the ability to make and own a decision becomes more valuable.

My standard

I hold myself to the same rule.

If a decision is mine, I will not say the board wanted it, the data decided it, or someone else pushed for it.

I will say: my decision.

That is what "my decision, my neck" means. Use the data. Make the call. Own the learning. Do not pass the responsibility to someone else.