I was so angry with my team that I could barely see straight. |
Here's what happened… |
My wife and I were headed to Italy for a long vacation. Our first big trip without kids in nearly a decade. I was pumped. |
Before I left, I sat down with my team. We mapped out everything that needed to get done while I was away. Deliverables. Deadlines. Owners. |
Then I flew out with one strict instruction: |
"Don't contact me unless it's a true emergency." |
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And they didn't. |
But when I got back, I discovered they had done...wait for it… |
…absolutely nothing. |
To say I was pissed would be an understatement. |
I was ready to fire everyone! |
But when I dug into what happened, I realized the problem wasn't my people. They weren't lazy. They weren't "checked out." And they certainly weren't stupid. |
About 3 days into my trip, a decision came up. Something unexpected. And they didn't feel comfortable making the call without running it by me first. |
So they waited. |
And then everything else stalled behind it. |
I was mad for about a day...and then it hit me. |
I had trained them to behave this way. |
Every meaningful decision in my company flowed through me. Not because I demanded it, but because I'd never given them anything else to go on. |
This is what I call Decision Hoarding...and most founders don't even realize they're doing it. |
Here's the truth: companies scale at the rate of good decision-making. |
If you're the only one who can make good decisions, then your company is only going to scale at the rate of you. I don't care how many systems you put in place. I don't care how big your team is. You will still be the bottleneck. |
The fix wasn't better people. The fix was a decision-making framework. |
Specifically, it was giving my team four questions they could ask anytime a decision came up. If the answer was "yes" to all four, they had the green light. No extra layer of approval required. |
Here are the four questions that solved my decision-hoarding problem… |
Question 1: "Is this good for the company?" |
In other words...does this get us closer to our stated goals? |
It seems obvious, but your team can't answer that if "where we're trying to go" lives in your head. Your team needs a clear target. |
We use a simple format: |
"In 3 years, we want to generate $X in revenue by serving Y customers, all operating at Z% profit margin." |
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If the decision doesn't move toward that target...pass. |
Question 2: "Is this good for the customer?" |
This is where your company purpose earns its keep. Not a corny mission statement...a genuine reason your business exists beyond making money for you. |
Our company purpose is: |
"To help 7- and 8-figure entrepreneurs systemize their business so their company can scale and they can achieve their ideal exit." |
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Specific enough that someone on my team can look at a decision and ask, "Does this serve that person?" If it's good for the company but bad for the customer...pass. |
Question 3: "Is this good for the culture?" |
This is where your core values come in. And I'm not talking about generic core values like "honesty," "integrity," and "hard work." |
I mean the kind of values that define who actually thrives in your organization. The kind you hire, train, and, if necessary, fire by. |
For example, here are our core values: |
We love entrepreneurs - We believe it's an honor and a privilege to play a small role in helping entrepreneurs make a "dent" in their corner of the universe. We are "batteries included" - We show up and bring our best because that's who we are, not because someone else "motivated" or "inspired" us to act that way. We raise the bar - Our past successes don't define us any more than our past failures, which is why we work to get a little better every day. We do the dishes - No work is beneath us if it serves our teammates and our customers. We seek the why - Whether things go right or things go wrong, we always ask "Why?" (And "Because that's how we've always done it," is never an acceptable answer.)
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Here's the test: if your values don't force trade-offs and difficult decisions... if they don't attract some people and REPEL others... they're not usable values... they're wall art. |
Question 4: "Can we expect to win?" (a.k.a. "Is it BAD for the competition?") |
This is the biggie, because t's all about knowing what you're good at (and what you're not). In other words, what are your competitive advantages and DIS-advantages? |
We call these Strategic Anchors, and ours include: |
Our brand is built on proprietary frameworks and IP (not "cult of personality" gurus) We leverage owned media (Newsletters, YouTube, Podcast, etc.) which drives down our acquisition costs We are good at delivering one-on-one service fulfillment at scale (Systems + People + AI), NOT group coaching/consulting and NOT software We focus on post-traction, founder-led businesses (NOT startups, opportunity-seekers, or Fortune 500 brands) We have centralized operations and administration (better economics by sharing the cost of critical but non-revenue-creating expenses)
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These give the team a mechanism for saying no...which is the decision most teams are afraid to make without you. |
So the flow is simple: Good for the company? Good for the customer? Good for the culture? Can we win? |
Yes to all four...it's a yes. |
Fail even one...it's a no. (Or at best, a "Not now.") |
Let me show you how this plays out with two real case studies from my companies. |
Case Study 1: The decision that saved our culture. One of our companies was in the outdoor and preparedness space. Think, camping supplies, fire starters, survival gear, stuff like that. |
A few years ago, competitors started making serious money selling politically charged products around a certain presidential election. (I probably don't need to tell you which one.) |
We felt pressured to do the same, so we ran it through the four questions: |
Good for the company? Yes...would have made us a lot of money. Good for the customer? Also, yes...a big segment would have wanted them. Good for the culture? No. One of our core values at that company was that we respect all beliefs and opinions. We don't take sides. A politically charged product line would have been a direct violation of that value.
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Result: Failed Question 3. Never even got to Question 4. It was a no. |
Case Study 2: The "great idea" we had to kill. One of our companies is in the business services space. A team member had a great idea...build a software product around the solution we were already providing. Software was hot. Massive margins. Recurring revenue. And customers were asking for it. |
Good for the company? Yes...significant revenue upside. Good for the customer? Yes...they were literally requesting it. Good for the culture? Yes...the team was more excited about this than our existing business. Can we expect to win? No. And that's putting it lightly. Not only did we not know how to build software, we had lost millions in previous failed attempts. If our competitors knew the full story, they would have begged us to give software another shot. So instead of building our own, we partnered with a software provider who already had the product. Our margins weren't as high, but our risk was dramatically lower. And we didn't burn 18 months and a pile of cash trying to turn a competitive disadvantage into an advantage.
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Result: Based on the four questions, we had to say no...for now. |
Here's what both case studies have in common. These decisions didn't require me. The team ran the four questions, evaluated the facts, and made the call. No Slack message. No "got a minute?" No waiting for the CEO to come back from Italy. |
Now, I have all four questions answered for everyone on my team on a single tool I call a Clarity Compass. One page. And it's the reason I can run multiple companies without being the bottleneck on every decision. |
You don't let excitement, pressure, or FOMO make the call. You run it through the four questions and let the facts decide. |
⚡️ Action Step: Block 60 minutes this week and build your Clarity Compass. Write your 3-year target in one sentence. Write a company purpose specific enough that your team can use it to make decisions. Add your real core values (the ones that force trade-offs) and 2-3 strategic anchors that define where you win. Put all four on a single page, share it with your leadership team, and ask: "Could you have made last week's toughest call using this?" |
Give it a shot and let me know how it works… |
-Ryan |
Ryan Deiss
Co-Founder and CEO, The Scalable Company |
P.S. I'm looking for 5 business owners who want to work 1-on-1 with my team and me to install a custom "operating system" so your business can scale and so you can exit the day-to-day. Click here for the details. |
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