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Leaders are gatekeeps. They decide what a group of people will have and what they won't have. In the same way an editor of a newspaper decides what stories people will read and what stories will never make the frontpage, leaders eventually have to decide what to offer as well.

One of the most powerful principles a leader will come across is the option of options. What do good leaders give as an option to another group? Do you give the as many as possible? After all, that seems to be what people want.

The truth is that while people want options to be able to choose, they don't want too many options. If you give a person too many options, their brain goes into overload and quits the decision making process altogether to find another way to proceed.

A good example of this is CostCo. You might have been to CostCo before. The huge warehouse superstore that does nearly everything by bulk. I actually stretch before I go in and I heard a rumor that it will be added to the next Summer Olympics. Just kidding.

One of the most common complaints about CostCo is the lack of choice. Do you know what CostCo thinks? Perfect. That's exactly what they want. They want options but very few of them. Options are good but too many options and it hinders the decision making process.

The brain can handle about 6 options easily. Any more than that and it starts to give up.

This was one of the brilliance of Steve Jobs. One of the best actions he took when he was reintroduced to Apple in the early 2000's was to limit the product line. Forget about having all sorts of options that competitors were offering. Boil the product line down to the most basic of items. Keep the options so simple that a non-working wife of a well-to-do husband could understand and make the decision on her own. He limited it down to the:

• iMac (home computer use)
• Mac Pro (professional computer use)
• iBook (home laptop use)
• Mac Book Pro (professional laptop use)

What could be easier? Each option is clear. Each option is distinct. Each option is easily understood by the target market. Diving deeper into each one of these simple options will reveal that there are further options to upgrade but those options come later and are re-presented at another stage.

What's funny is how quickly a company can change when the leader is vacated. In such a short time, Apple has lost it's focus that was so easily identifiable a few years ago.

This week they will release 2 new iPhones, the 5s and the 5c. Our target market can't tell the difference between the two. There's no clear difference. There's no easily identifiable differentiators. It can't be easily understood. Do you think both will be a success? Or do you think that one will succeed and one will fall flat on it's face? Or maybe both will be doomed? I guess we will find out.

Now to you leader. Will you offer options? You will offer many and confuse? Or will you be helpful. Offer no more than 6 options. Make each one clear and easily identifiable. Don't confuse. Clarify.