A founder sat across from me last month and told me about a decision he’d been holding for six months.
I asked what was keeping him from making it.
He thought for a while. Then he said, “I don’t have anyone I can think out loud with who doesn’t have a stake in the answer.”
I’ve been hearing that sentence, in different words, from founders and owners for most of my career. Not I don’t know what to do. Something closer to there’s no one in my life who isn’t affected by what I decide.
His wife is affected. His leadership team is affected. His board is affected. His staff is affected. Every one of them loves him, and every one of them is weighing what the decision means for them before they can hear what it means for him.
So the man who owns the business ends up holding the decision by himself. Not because he wanted to. Because no room in his life was free of a stake in the answer.
This is what peer advisory teams are for. A room of other founders and owners who love you and don’t have a stake in your answer. A room where you can say I haven’t decided yet and nobody flinches. A room where the question can sit on the table for as long as it needs to.
It’s part of the work we do at Eden Business Concepts, and one of the ways we do it is through facilitating CEO and Owner teams with Convene. Twice a month, two hours, men who share your faith and your seat.
If you’ve been holding a decision alone for a while, here’s the question: who in your life is safe to think out loud with?
If the honest answer is nobody, that’s not a personal failing. That’s a structural one. And it’s fixable.