Call the shots Neutral

To be the person in charge, making the key decisions that others must follow.

The phrase usually implies real, often unchallenged authority — the person calling the shots isn’t just influential, they’re the one whose word ultimately settles the matter.

The origin is genuinely disputed among etymologists, with no single theory confirmed. Candidates include American pool and billiards, where a player calls in advance which ball they intend to pocket; Scottish curling, attested as early as the 1500s, where the team’s “skip” calls out the line, weight, and speed for each throw; and whisky distilling, where a distiller decides which “shots,” or runs, of the distillate are good enough to keep. Whatever its exact source, the earliest confirmed use in the figurative, decision-making sense so far traced is from a 1913 Massachusetts legislative record asking “who has the right to call the shots on industrial relations, the managers or the unions” — already applying the phrase to organizational authority much as it’s used today.

She’s the CEO, but her older sister actually calls the shots on major decisions.

In this kitchen, the head chef calls the shots — no exceptions.

He doesn’t like being told what to do; he wants to call the shots himself.

A: “Who approved this budget?” B: “Marketing doesn’t call the shots here — finance does.”