LEADING THROUGH PRESSURE

We expected 2025 to be a growth year. What we got instead was a long stretch of sustained pressure.

Growth didn’t meet expectations. The economy changed in ways we hadn’t planned for. And ultimately, we had to make difficult decisions that affected people we care about. None of it felt easy or straightforward.

When the pressure hit, you could feel the separation. Some teams leaned into care, others pushed for performance, and we weren’t pulling in the same direction anymore. It became harder to tell who owned what, meetings ran long without any meaningful progress, and the sense of alignment that once felt natural was no longer there.

It became clear that the culture we thought we had wasn’t the one people were actually experiencing. And that’s what led to change.

Hear more in From Building to Maintaining: The Discipline Behind Enduring Companies.

If last year pushed your company in ways you didn’t expect, you’re not the only one. The real test is how you respond to what it revealed.

PERSPECTIVES

“One of the tests of leadership is the ability to recognize a problem before it becomes an emergency." — Arnold H. Glasow

MARK MY WORDS

Last year, parts of the company felt broken, and I waited longer than I should have to step in and address what wasn’t working.

We had meetings that included too many people, and we weren’t always clear about who was responsible for what. Some areas of the business were moving quickly while others had slowed down, and even though people cared deeply, we weren’t functioning as a single, aligned team anymore. As the pressure increased, those disconnects became harder to ignore.

It was a hard stretch, but it pushed us to clean things up and get back to a place where agreements were clear and the work felt connected. If something in your company feels off, you don’t need to have all the answers before you start asking the right questions. Just don’t wait too long.

ONE MORE FOR THE ROAD

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

Your Company’s Culture Isn’t ‘Fine’ — Here’s How to Fix It

I wrote this for Entrepreneur after too many conversations with leaders who sensed something was off but couldn’t name it. Culture doesn’t fall apart overnight. It’s our job to recognize the cracks and do the real work to repair them.

[Read Now]

Some lessons only sink in after you’ve lived through them. This one’s about mistakes, resilience, and the kind of hard-earned learning founders know better than most.