Nothing Derails a Plan Like an Expert

While cutting my dog’s hair today I started to think about leadership. Just kidding. I did not think about leadership at all.

But leadership found me nonetheless later on today.  I was thinking about a disaster that happened Friday at our house. The sky dumped like 5’’ of rain in a couple of hours. Our gutters failed and water leaked into the basement. Steve (the husband) and I are pretty handy, so we fixed the gutter, peeled back the carpet, and tore out the wall, frame, and insulation by Saturday morning. Triage complete.

I then planned to install a French drain the next day. I’d dug the hole, picked up the supplies, and was ready to get into it when my neighbors walked over. They are both Army engineers.Steve looked at me and said… get ready, we are about to receive some engineering advice. Shit. I felt like I’d just been caught drinking beer by my parents.

Ken, the neighbor, looked at me and said, “You’re throwing away your money if you don’t excavate the whole thing and waterproof the wall.” Michelle added, “It can’t be more than about 9 feet down.”“Yeah, about that far down,” I said as I watched my morale and pride bottom out.

I was so pissed. I was also whiplashed. All my momentum was just killed in one statement.Steve and I sat on the grass staring at our mess. Ken was right.

We tarped the project and called it a day. Steve did what must be done in these situations: he spent hours on YouTube trying to find one credible dude who disagreed with Ken the engineer.By the next morning I had come around to the idea that we needed to slow down and address the real problem.By about 1 p.m. I decided to call a foundation company and request a visit.

So why is this at all interesting from a business perspective?Problems happen all the time. Systems crash, employees quit, customers complain. Our best people are usually very good at jumping into triage mode. We love the people who can just make it better right away.

But sadly, we often continue to address the problem in triage mode. How can we fix it fast?

How can we get back to where we were?The brain just wants to keep winning. We want more and more dopamine from fixing problems quickly.

It’s frustrating to pause when you’ve already invested time, money, and energy, but pressing forward on the wrong solution just guarantees more rework later.In business, this shows up constantly. A quick fix feels productive. A temporary patch keeps things moving. But the harder work is to step back, question the assumptions, and bring the problem back to the table.

So how do you do it? Sometimes you need to pull in a peer or another team who can look at the issue without your blind spots. Other times, a facilitator or outside expert can ask questions you haven’t considered. And often it’s simply a matter of carving out time and space to think clearly, away from the urgency of the moment.

The discipline to slow down, get perspective, and invest in solving the underlying issue is what prevents the same problems from resurfacing. Momentum matters, but so does direction. Sometimes the best leadership move is knowing when to stop and reset.

Live & LeadWell,

~E