Fearless in Business - What does it mean?

Ask the hard questions you have been avoiding so you can operate in the present. It’s been a year since we sold the business that I started and led for almost 10 years, I have been reflecting on lessons learned. We are constantly told that we have to be “fearless” in business, but what does that mean? I have found that it mostly about collecting information not making decisions. By gathering sufficient information to reach a decision rapidly you take control of the outcome, be it a minor issue or a major company changing event.

I have been on both sides of this one, asking the hard questions around customer transactions during difficult negotiations that would have resulted in our walking away from the business or digging into a significant engineering problem causing a reset of product plans. But I have also avoided addressing an unhappy individual at one of our customers who demoralized our team. I most regret how the team was treated, and you can guess the outcome of that one.

So what are the hard questions, they are the ones that will likely result in the answer that you don’t want to hear? But if you are not asking because you don’t want to hear the answer, don’t you already know the answer? Get over it and ask the question.

The news is bad but there are benefits:

• Clarity. While the future may be bleak, its clear.
• Progress. Get on with plan B, you have one right?
• Productivity. Stop wasting energy worrying, use it problem solving.

In my experience there are usually few choices in every decision. In most cases the collected data makes the choice, the only decision you make is to “do it”. Gathering the information is therefore the most important part of decision making, gathering it quickly increases execution velocity and allows the teams resources to be most effectively utilized. So get out there and ask the hard questions, be blunt and listen closely to the answers; to new key team member you have been pursing “what do you need today to decide to join?”; the engineering project that is never completing, gather the team, “is this ever going to work?”; that big deal that has been going on forever, visit the customer, look them in the eye and ask, “are we ever going to see a purchase order?”

Fearless in business, ask the hard questions, its liberating.