FEWER AND FINER WINS

One of the easiest ways to slow a company down is to keep adding more work.

When things get uncertain, a lot of us do what we see other smart, driven people do: We come up with more ideas. New offers, new processes,  new projects. That instinct is understandable, but it can slow your company down faster than you realize. Once your company has real structure, very little is isolated anymore. What looks like a quick win for one team usually creates more work for product, marketing, customer success, engineering, or all four.

That’s why I keep coming back to fewer and finer. Good leaders know how to protect focus, especially in the middle of a quarter. They don’t treat every new thought like a green light. They put it on the long-term issues list, come back to it later, and ask a simple question: Is this really worth the added complexity?

Hear more in the latest episode of the Founder’s Framework podcast The Hidden Cost of Too Many Ideas.

The companies that scale well don’t keep piling on one-off projects. They build programs that get better over time. Where is your team adding work when it should be creating clarity?

PERSPECTIVES

“And it comes from saying no to 1,000 things to make sure we don't get on the wrong track or try to do too much." — Steve Jobs

MARK MY WORDS

Fewer and finer isn’t about doing less just to feel disciplined. It’s about choosing the kind of work that can actually live on.

We all have ideas that sound good in the moment. Some even create a burst of energy. But if they turn into one-off projects with no real life after the quarter ends, they usually leave behind more complexity than value. 

What I’d rather see is a team invest in work that compounds, gets better over time, and helps us focus, align, and thrive. That takes more patience. It also takes better judgment. You have to look past the excitement of the new idea and ask whether it’s something the company should really own a year from now.

For more conversations like this, subscribe to Founder’s Framework on YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts.

INSIDE NINETY

I’ve learned that feedback only matters if it helps a team get clearer and stronger. With Custom Assessments in Ninety, you can gather the right input, see what matters, and use it to move the conversation forward instead of letting it sit in the background.

[Try It Now]

ON THE CALENDAR

I’ll be at the EOS® Conference with the Ninety team on April 22–23, and I’d love to see you there. We’re hosting the Welcome Reception on April 22 from 5–6 p.m.

Kris Snyder and I will also be leading a session that day on The Five Stages Every EOS® Company Grows Through — and The Value Gap. If you’re there, come say hello.

[View All Ninety Sessions]

ONE MORE FOR THE ROAD

In case you missed it, here’s more from Founder’s Framework:

How Curiosity Can Transform Your Company and Your Leadership

Curiosity is one of the clearest advantages a leader can build into a company. In this piece, I share why disciplined curiosity helps people make better decisions, grow faster, and strengthen the whole system around them.

[Read Now]

A reminder that not everything important needs to happen right now. The best leaders know that slowing down and choosing carefully are how you build something that lasts.