-Hard Decisions-

I once had the privilege of helping successfully turn around a public company in crisis. As many others are now in crisis mode, I would like to share what I learned in case it is helpful.

Medium version here: https://medium.com/@provisionalideas/hard-decisions-dceb4a0a3c4?sk=d4e17ecc15cafaf729d2014c22552ccf

Context:
Product failed and was dead in the water. Limited resources available. Needed a new direction.

Outcome:
Successfully executed in an exciting new direction, raised new capital, rebuilt confidence of investors + employees + market.

Advice:

1. Plan carefully. Sit down, evaluate your position and available resources, and risks to the organization. Evaluate how you can survive given the crisis ends in Q4 of this year, and what you’ll do if it lasts through Q1 next year.

2. Be reasonable. Recognize everyone is stressed and anxious and productivity levels will be lower than normal. Incorporate this understanding into your plan. Recognize this is a fact you cannot change.

3. Stick to the plan. Every week, check how you’re performing relative to the objectives you set out and persist. Unless something massive changes, keep moving forward one step at a time.

4. Don’t fidget. You will find planning to be a very comforting exercise, and will want to retreat to the plan and play with it as a safety blanket. If you did your planning properly, this is unnecessary and a dangerous distraction. Execute against the plan.

5. Be transparent. Your job as leadership is to make sure everyone is equipped to do their job, and nobody is blindsided. There are some hard truths, but hiding them hurts everyone. Being open helps people make informed decisions and find a way out.

6. Stay transparent. Hold town halls, field questions, be open to anonymous feedback (e.g. Slido). People may have tough things to say, but it’s important to let people feel heard — especially now.

7. Be humble. Your best days will be the ones where you let a sense of responsibility — to your employees, customers, and investors — be your guide. Your worst days will be the ones where your ego wins out. Admit what you don’t know, make sure you have a plan to find the answer.

8. Measure twice, cut once. If you have to do a RIF, do it all at once: nothing kills morale like uncertainty and rolling waves of layoffs. And do it humanely — offer to rehire should circumstances change, provide recommendation letters, circulate RIF lists.

9. Take care of your health, both mental and physical. It's easy to obsess over the challenge and not take care of yourself, but you are useless to those around you if your health falters.

10. Ask for help. Especially now, you are not alone, and others can offer helpful perspective. We had amazing advisors that helped us through, but we wouldn't have if we didn't ask.

My DMs are open to anyone who wants to share, seek advice, or just commiserate.

Stay healthy.

PS: take taking care of yourself seriously. This shit is HARD, and it’s easy to neglect yourself — I gained 30 lbs from the stress (that I’ve thankfully since lost).

Try to eat well, sleep well, and stay in touch with friends through it all.