The Hard Thing

An owner asked me to diagnose a managed services company he'd bought. It took one day: wrong people, wrong process, wrong technology. He walked away to fix it himself. Eighteen months later he came back worse off and got the same answer. A year after that he came back losing money, people and clients.

What I've never said publicly is this. The diagnosis was never the hard part. Hearing it was. He didn't need more information. He needed permission to stop protecting a decision he'd already made.

If you've heard the same diagnosis twice, you're not gathering data. You're waiting for a different answer.

Three Things Worth Your Time

"A bad fit is worse than an empty seat." Alex Hormozi​

It's true and it's often overlooked. With an empty seat, people pick up the load. With a bad fit, people disconnect and you lose the room. You feel it in the numbers. You feel it even more in the culture of performance you're trying to build.

"I was on every meeting because I needed to be needed." Dan Martell​

Leadership isn't about being needed or being the smartest person in the room. It's about being the force multiplier. Put yourself in everything and you add friction instead of taking it away.

"The life you are searching for is right around the corner of a difficult conversation you are avoiding."

I heard this years ago. I used it recently in a conversation with someone I care deeply about. Hard conversations have consequences. They make us look in the mirror. So we let avoidance overpower what we want. Write the conversation down. Then go have it. It's what lets you see around the corner.

From the Shelf

Ben Horowitz, The Hard Thing About Hard Things. It's one of the most honest leadership books I've read. Horowitz's point is that the truly hard calls come with no recipe. The data tells you something you don't want to hear and you still have to act on it. He calls that fight the Struggle. Leading through it means telling your people the truth early, even when you'd rather wait.

One Question

Which conversation have you known you needed to have for months?

Chris

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