This week's idea
From The Hard Thing About Hard Things by Ben Horowitz:
"If you're going to eat shit, don't nibble."
In other words...the longer you avoid the hard decision, the worse it gets.
Useful takeaways
There is no peacetime forever. Every leader eventually becomes a wartime leader.
The hardest part of leadership is managing your own psychology, not executing the strategy.
Clarity beats optimism. If you don't know what you want, you'll never get it.
Where people get this wrong
Most people read "don't nibble" and think it means "move faster on everything." So they start making rash decisions just to feel decisive.
That's not the lesson.
The principle isn't speed. It's don't let avoidance compound the problem. There's a difference between moving quickly and simply refusing to delay the inevitable.
How I've applied it
I've stopped delaying uncomfortable conversations and decisions. When something feels off, I deal with it quickly and directly. It's never fun, but it's always cleaner and helps me sleep better.
Storytime
Early in my time as GM, I hired someone who was exceptional. Clients loved this person. I loved working with them. They were reliable, talented, and someone I could trust to handle high-stakes work without hand-holding.
Until I couldn't.
Something shifted. The quality dropped. Communication became inconsistent. Small issues started compounding. They'd been so good for so long, I convinced myself it was temporary. A rough patch. Something we could work through.
So I nibbled.
I had soft conversations. I gave feedback in gentle increments. I kept hoping each small intervention would fix it without having to have “the conversation” - the one where I said, "This isn't working anymore."
It didn't fix it. It got worse.
By the time I finally addressed it directly, the damage was irreparable. Not just to the work, but to our relationship. The trust was gone. I'd let resentment and frustration build for months instead of dealing with it cleanly early on.
I had to let them go. It was horrible.
However, I helped them find a new role. One that was actually a better fit. They’ve flourished there, and we're still good friends today.
Some would say I made the wrong hire. But in reality, the lesson was that I delayed the hard conversation, and that delay made everything worse. For them, for me, for my clients and for the team.
I nibbled. And we both paid for it in the short term.
Thanks for reading, and see you next week!
Murph