How decisions actually get made

Every important decision contains an argument you never get to see.

Notes from inside the room.
The arguments, trade-offs and quiet shifts that happen before a decision becomes official.

One substantial letter a month. No sequence. No pitch.

Latest · 12 Oct 2026 1 min read

Leading through change

How are you going to manage your personal change?

In 2014 I had an answer ready for every question in a regional director interview except one. Twelve years on, it was the most useful question in that room.

“How settled you are shapes how well you lead, in a new role, a new place, a new culture.”

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01 The decision as it was experienced

02 The counter-argument that nearly won

03 The question that remains open

From the desk

Recent writing

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08 Oct 2026 · Leading through change

Leaders need recognition too

My regional directors told me the forum had become too heavy. An independent coach heard something else, and one of them later said it to my face.

“You have not praised us enough.”
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06 Oct 2026 · Experience and the commercial case

Why not a customer statement?

A CEO fixed one developer's problem within hours of seeing it on X. It was a good moment, and it also showed who gets that kind of service and who does not.

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05 Oct 2026 · Leading through change

Who carries the idea once it has been heard

I gave regional directors the lead on ideas they had brought in from customers. It was the right intent, and a few months later both they and head office told me they could not carry it.

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Who it is for

You are close enough to carry the decision. Not always close enough to see how it was made.

Two to five years inA target lands. The reasoning arrives as a slide, if it arrives at all.

Running a teamYour people ask why. The honest answer is that nobody told you either.

Just took something biggerThe org chart is no longer a reliable map of how the work happens.

Waqas Aman Ullah

Behind the desk

Written from practice, not from the sidelines.

Waqas Aman Ullah has led large commercial organisations through growth, restructuring, regulatory change and merger uncertainty — with responsibility for a consumer business profit and loss and a national team of 400+.

About Waqas and the publication →

The monthly letter

One decision, examined at full complexity.

The longer argument, the reading behind it and the working notes that do not fit anywhere else.

One email a month. Leave whenever you like.

Office hours

Thirty minutes. No pitch.

A decision you are stuck inside, a plan you cannot defend, or a team moving through a change nobody has explained. Two conversations most weeks.

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