Good people have sunk companies with good intentions.
Not bad actors. Not lazy ones. People who genuinely meant well and told themselves the right story about why the thing didn’t ship, why the number didn’t hit, why the customer didn’t get called back.
I’ve been there more times than I’d like to admit. I’ve made promises I believed when I made them — to investors, to teammates, to my brother, to my wife — that didn’t turn into anything. The intention was real. The follow-through wasn’t. It’s one of the most important areas I’m still working on.
A culture of accountability isn’t harsh, it’s clarifying. We talk about what happened, not what we meant to happen. We look at the result, not the rationale. And, as David Estes helps ingrain: “we attack process, not people.” It’s the next thing getting done.
I’m genuinely grateful that across ATIS, Greenleaf Capital Partners, and Centered Partners, I’ve been able to attract people who hold themselves to that standard better than I sometimes hold myself. They’ve covered my gaps and consistently shown me what the standard looks like in practice.
You don’t live in the story you tell yourself. You live in the results you leave behind. And if you’re lucky, in the company of people who keep raising the bar.
#ChipChats #Leadership #Accountability #FounderLessons #OperatorMindset #FollowThrough #GetCentered