“If It’s Easy…It’s Wrong”

My 11-year-old son started playing hockey goalie this year. At a recent goalie clinic, his coach said something I think applies to business leaders…

“Goalie is a hard position. It’s hard to be in your stance through the whole game, it’s hard to shuffle across the crease while you follow the puck, it’s hard to move out to challenge the shooter. But those are the right things to do – those are what will help you make the save. You can play the easy way, but you won’t be successful. So, I want you to remember a simple phrase to help guide you while you’re in practice and in games…If it’s easy, it’s wrong. If it’s hard, it’s right.”

Let me review some of the easy things that I see business leaders do:

• Make important decisions before understanding the consequences

• Make important decisions without involving the people who will carry them out

• Focus on feel-good marketing activity rather than figuring out their marketing ROI

• React to sales opportunities rather than focus on the ones that are best for their business

• Hire someone that they like

• Keep someone they shouldn’t have hired

• Avoid the hard decisions during strategy meetings, so that the decisions are left for people in the field to deal with when they’re faced with a problem

• Assume they know what their customers or markets want without asking them

• Don’t question their own biases and blindspots

In every one of those situations, it’s hard to do the right thing. It would be nice if they weren’t hard, or if there was a magic wand that would make them easy. But that’s not how those situations work. And what happens if you handle them the easy way? Things take longer, you create more problems, you spend more money. In short, the easy way is actually not the easy way.

So, here’s the key message I want you to remember as a business leader: When you’re in a complex or important situation, the hard way is actually the easiest way in the long run, if you’re aiming for long-term business success.

I know it’s not easy, but please do the right thing. It’s what your company, customers, markets and communities need from you.