Key Leadership Lesson: The Importance of Knowing Your Numbers--Data Doesn’t Lie

In any business, knowing your numbers is critical to success. Whether you’re navigating sales, marketing, or finances, the data doesn’t lie. It provides clarity in the face of complexity and allows you to pinpoint exactly where challenges or opportunities exist. For leaders, understanding your numbers isn’t just a best practice—it’s a necessity.

Why Data Matters

Most businesses, especially as they scale, become complex, with multiple departments and variables to manage. Knowing your numbers allows you to identify issues, whether it’s a sales conversion problem, a financial oversight, or inefficiencies in operations. For example, if sales are lagging, examining every stage—from lead generation to closing—can reveal where the breakdown is happening. Likewise, understanding your cash balance and profit and loss (P&L) is critical to identifying “creep,” where small recurring expenses like subscriptions add up and eat into profitability.

Real-World Insights

At my previous company, we operated 12 offices across the U.S., each with similar market dynamics and lead generation strategies. By comparing conversions across offices, we could quickly identify anomalies. For instance, when one office underperformed in June—a typically strong month—we dug into the data and found that a well-meaning agent had inadvertently disrupted our sales process by coaching the team to delay paperwork. This spike in cancellations and conversion drops could have gone unnoticed without clear metrics to guide us. Once identified, we adjusted course, corrected the issue, and improved performance.

Building a Metrics-Driven Culture

At Faris Capital Partners, our daily morning huddle is key to embedding data into our culture. Every team member reports their key metric from the prior day, compares it to their goal, and identifies their priority for the day. This simple but powerful practice creates group accountability and ensures everyone stays focused on the numbers that matter.

We also hold weekly and monthly meetings to drill deeper into department-specific metrics. For example, our marketing team tracks blogs, newsletters, and social media posts, all of which tie back to lead generation. For inside sales, we monitor meaningful conversations and contact attempts to ensure we’re meeting targets. By consistently reviewing and discussing these metrics as a team, we create alignment and foster accountability.

Starting Small: The Power of Simplicity

For newer companies or entrepreneurs, the best place to start is with simple tracking systems. Even spreadsheets can serve as powerful tools for monitoring the activities that drive results. The key is to define success, break it into actionable steps, and identify the one activity that will move the needle most. For example, in sales, it might be the number of dials or meaningful conversations. For marketing, it could be content output. Start with that first domino and track it relentlessly.

Leading by Example

Creating a numbers-driven culture starts with the leader. At Faris Capital Partners, I review dashboards and data before every meeting. By leading with transparency and verification, I ensure the team understands the importance of accurate reporting. Technology also plays a role. For instance, our voiceover IP system automatically logs calls, eliminating manual tracking and ensuring the numbers align with reality. This creates a culture where the data backs up every decision, fostering trust and accountability.

Conclusion

Knowing your numbers is more than just a management tool—it’s the foundation for effective leadership and business growth. The data doesn’t lie, and when you build systems to track, verify, and act on that data, you eliminate guesswork and position your team for success. At the end of the day, a metrics-driven culture doesn’t just drive results; it creates alignment, accountability, and clarity across your organization.

Key Leadership Lessons: Systems Aren’t Constraints; They’re Freeing

As humans, we’re faced with countless decisions every day. Thankfully, our brains have developed shortcuts to help us navigate life’s complexities. Daniel Kahneman, in his book Thinking Fast and Slow, describes this as System 1 thinking—the automatic, habitual processes that guide much of our daily lives, from brushing our teeth to driving a car. Without these mental shortcuts, we’d be completely paralyzed by the sheer volume of decisions we face.

In fact, some leaders have famously embraced simplicity in their daily routines to minimize decision fatigue. Steve Jobs, for instance, wore the same black outfit every day to conserve his energy for more important decisions. In business, the same principle applies: implementing robust systems removes unnecessary decision-making, allowing leaders and teams to focus their energy on higher-value tasks.

Real-World Examples of Systems in Action

At my former business, Mark Spain Real Estate, we had an inside sales team responsible for managing new leads. When the company was smaller, the team relied on personal relationships with agents to decide which agent should be matched with each lead. This worked well when the scale was manageable, but as we grew, those relationships became less frequent, and conversions started to decline. Leads were being dispersed randomly, and it was clear something needed to change.

We put a lot of thought and effort into creating a decision-making matrix that automated the lead flow process. This system considered key factors like an agent’s expertise in specific areas, their success with certain price ranges, their tenure on the team, and their conversion rates. We integrated this matrix into Salesforce and built custom software that would run new leads through the system, generating a shortlist of two or three agents most likely to convert the lead.

The results were immediate. Conversions improved significantly, the inside sales team became more efficient, and the process was streamlined across the board. By removing personal bias and manual guesswork, the system ensured that leads were matched with the agents best suited to handle them. This not only saved time but also led to better outcomes for both clients and the company.

Another example of a great system we’ve implemented is our due diligence process at Faris Capital Partners. Before we did our first deal, we sat down as a team and created a robust list of over 100 items that needed to be addressed to ensure a successful investment. By taking the time to build out this system, the due diligence process no longer requires guesswork. Every team member knows exactly what they need to do to ensure that their piece of the process is completed on time and with the appropriate outcome.

Why Systems Are Essential

A robust system isn’t a constraint—it’s a framework that removes guesswork, reduces decision fatigue, and improves consistency. When you minimize the number of decisions you need to make, you free up your energy for the decisions that truly matter. By creating systems in your business, you allow yourself and your team to focus on the tasks that drive growth and deliver results. Systems create freedom, not limitations.

Leadership Tools: Map out your client journey

Why a Defined Client Journey is Critical to Success

As Benjamin Franklin said, “If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail.” Nowhere is that more relevant than in building out your client journey. If you don’t have a firm plan detailing all the touchpoints, pain points, solutions, and WOW moments of your client’s experience, you risk inconsistency at best and business failure at worst. 

In today’s world, a well-defined client journey isn’t optional—it’s essential for delivering an exceptional client experience.

Mapping the Client Journey: A Step-by-Step Approach

The first step is to identify every stage of your client journey. At Faris Capital Partners, we’ve broken this down into clear stages:

1. Lead-to-Contact

2. Discovery Call

3. Investment Call

4. Dealing Rep Call (for Canadian investors)

5. Paperwork and Funding

6. Active Investor

7. First Distribution

8. Exit

9. Repeat and Referral Partner

Once the stages are outlined, we map out key elements for each:

• Touchpoints: We identify every interaction point, whether it’s a personalized call from our investor relations team or an automated email or text message designed to convert leads into meaningful contacts.

• WOW Moments: These are opportunities for surprise and delight—unexpected gestures that leave a lasting impression. For instance, sending a handwritten thank-you note or a personalized gift can make a big impact. One unique approach is what Alex Hormozi calls the ethical bribe: for example, sending a $5 Starbucks gift card prior to an important call. This gesture serves two purposes. It is a kindness offered to a potential client and it also makes it more likely that the potential client will attend the scheduled meeting. 

• Timeline: We analyze how much time the client spends in each stage to ensure we’re meeting their expectations promptly and efficiently.

• Pain Points: For each stage, we identify common challenges or frustrations clients might face, such as confusion with paperwork or delays in communication.

• Solutions: Once pain points are identified, we create strategies to address them. But we don’t stop there. We revisit the WOW moments to ask: can we solve the pain point in a way that also delivers a WOW? Turning a frustrating experience into a memorable one is a powerful way to build client loyalty.

By taking the time to layer in a plan across all aspects of the client journey, we ensure not only a smooth experience but also one that exceeds expectations at every turn. This proactive approach creates a consistent, memorable experience that builds trust, fosters referrals, and sets the stage for long-term success.

Leadership Tools: Green light, red light meetings

Green Light and Red Light in Meetings: A Practical Guide

In previous posts, I’ve discussed the importance of letting the team do the talking and the need for leaders to stay quiet in meetings. It’s human nature to trust the person with the most authority in the room, so when leaders speak first, it often steers everyone else’s thinking. That’s why, when you’re working through problem-solving or planning for the next quarter or year, it’s essential for the leader to step back, ask open-ended questions, and let the team explore their ideas fully.

One effective approach I’ve adopted is dividing meetings into “green light” and “red light” phases. In the green light phase, there are no bad ideas—none. I tell the team that this is a safe space where we aren’t commenting on or criticizing any ideas. We’re simply collecting them. We write every idea on a whiteboard, whether I’m jotting them down or someone else volunteers. During this time, it’s important to avoid interrupting, even if an idea seems off-base. Often, what sounds outlandish becomes the seed of a breakthrough.

Embracing the silence is key. In green light, silence means people are thinking, and as a leader, the best thing you can do is keep quiet and let them continue thinking. The green light phase may take 20–30 minutes of a meeting, or however long the team needs to get all their thoughts out. After that, we consolidate ideas, grouping similar ones into buckets. Once everything’s organized, we move into the red light phase.

In red light, the team starts evaluating and narrowing down ideas. This part can be tricky since leaders naturally want to take charge, but it’s essential to keep the team engaged in the process. To help, I use a simple grading system: which ideas have maximum impact with minimal effort? These are the low-hanging fruit—the ideas we can act on quickly with a high return. Then, we consider ideas that will require significant effort but have the potential for maximum impact. These go on a longer-term action list. Finally, we set aside ideas that offer minimal impact and low effort—those get saved as “maybes” for future consideration.

Throughout the red light phase, ask questions like: Will this idea make it easier for clients to work with us? Will this remove friction from our client experience? Will it simplify our team’s work? If it doesn’t, it’s likely not a constraint that your team needs to tackle now. With this structure, we allow for open brainstorming and constructive evaluation, ensuring that the best ideas emerge while staying focused on what truly moves the business forward.

A great example of this process in action was a meeting with my team at a previous business, where we were discussing how to increase conversions. Our marketing leads were coming in strong, and our inside sales team was booking appointments at a steady rate, but conversions at the appointment stage were slipping. We did a green light meeting and threw out a ton of ideas. Interestingly, someone from a completely different department totally divorced from the sales department suggested an idea they called “the first five.” The idea was for sales directors to support new team members through their first five transactions. They’d review every detail—from paperwork to competitive market analysis and proposals—and, whenever possible, even join them on appointments.

When we narrowed down ideas in the red light phase, we realized “the first five” was the one we wanted to pursue as a team. It had an immediate positive impact on our conversions. One of the best parts of green light/red light meetings is that the best ideas can come from people who aren’t directly connected to the problem. Sometimes, that distance from the problem allows them to see solutions more clearly.

Key Leadership Lessons: Read more fiction books

As a leader, it’s easy to focus exclusively on business books—they’re practical, they’re direct, and they give us strategies we can apply the next day. But I believe there’s something missing if that’s all we’re reading. Fiction, with its ability to dive into the human experience, is a powerful and often overlooked tool for leaders. It teaches us about what it means to be human, and that’s invaluable in leadership.

Take The Shining by Stephen King, for example. On the surface, it’s a horror story about a haunted hotel, but underneath, it’s about a man’s struggle with alcoholism, his internal demons, and the impact on his family. For me, it wasn’t about the ghosts—it was about understanding the depths of human behavior and empathy, especially for those facing their own personal battles. Having had family who struggled with addiction, King’s story provided a lens that helped me develop empathy, even in situations that are challenging to understand from the outside.

In fact, some of the most insightful lessons I’ve learned about people come from novels. Classic literature from authors like Dostoevsky or Austen may seem removed from today’s world, but their explorations of ambition, betrayal, and redemption are as relevant now as they were back then. These stories delve into motivations and relationships that go far beyond what’s taught in any leadership manual. Fiction, ultimately, gives us a view into perspectives beyond our own, something that makes us not only better leaders but also better humans.

At the end of the day, it’s about balance. Business books give us the tools and frameworks, but fiction offers the empathy, the understanding, and the insight into what makes us all tick. So, next time you’re picking a book, consider a novel. It just might add a new dimension to your leadership.

Key Leadership Lesson: It pays to be paranoid

Why It Pays to Be Paranoid – Staying Vigilant as a Leader

The word “paranoia” often has a negative connotation, and like any mindset, if overused, it can become a weakness. I don’t advocate for extreme paranoia or assuming you’re constantly under threat. But in reality, a leader does need to stay somewhat paranoid and vigilant across all aspects of their organization.

One way I approach this is by inspecting what I expect. When I ask for a work product, I always want a follow-up from the person I’m working with to let me know it’s completed. This allows me to check that it meets our standards, aligns with our mission, and reflects our values. Another area where I believe some level of “paranoia” is important is with competition. As humans, we tend to overestimate our own abilities and think we’re naturally better than others. It’s possible to assume that when a competitor enters your market, you’ll beat them because you think you’re the best. But disruptors are out there, and you have to remain vigilant, keeping up with new technologies, reading industry updates, and attending conferences. This ensures you’re prepared for what’s coming.

Maintaining Standards with a Close-the-Loop Culture

At Faris Capital Partners, we have what I call a close-the-loop culture, where every outstanding matter is addressed and acknowledged, no matter how big or small. For example, when someone receives an email request or action item, we ask that they reply with a simple “got it” to confirm receipt and provide a timeline if needed. Once the task is complete, they follow up again to close the loop. This culture not only allows us to ensure things are getting done but also helps us avoid micromanagement. Management is about creating systems for accountability and maintaining a good cadence, so everyone stays focused on their priorities.

Reminding the team of these standards is key. If we see the culture starting to slip, we go back and reinforce our expectations. As the leader, I also hold myself accountable to the same standards I expect from the team.

Staying Ahead of Competitors

One of the most important aspects of staying vigilant is proactively monitoring your competition and industry disruptors. For example, at my previous company, we watched as new players like Opendoor and OfferPad entered the real estate market. They were using a model we initially thought was unsustainable, offering cash buyouts to sellers without listing on the market. At first glance, it didn’t seem like it would impact us, but as these iBuyers gained traction, we realized they had the potential to disrupt our business. So, we got curious and a bit paranoid, attending conferences and connecting with people we knew at these companies to learn more.

In the end, we joined forces with both companies over time. If we’d just dismissed their model as unsustainable and failed to dig deeper, we might have been caught off guard and forced to play catch-up. This experience taught me that staying vigilant and challenging assumptions is essential. You have to be willing to let go of self-perception as “the best” and remember that threats to your business are always there. Remaining ever vigilant is essential to staying ahead.

Key Leadership Lesson: Spend Triple the Time Hiring – See the Real Person Behind the Interview

Spend Triple the Time Hiring – See the Real Person Behind the Interview

When I first started out in leadership, I hadn’t been trained in effective hiring practices. I fell into the common trap of hiring people that I simply liked or those who seemed similar to me. Since I was leading a sales team, I quickly ran into issues when new hires weren’t performing. This was frustrating not just for me, but also for the candidates. Because of my lack of preparation, I was putting people in roles they weren’t suited for, which meant they missed out on other potential opportunities that might have been a better fit. Initially, I thought this was just the reality of hiring—you win some, you lose some. Candidly, I would look around and realize that that was sort of par for the course at the majority of our competitors, particularly in real estate sales. There's high turnover in real estate where the average agent only stays with their brokerage for approximately 18 months. So once again, I thought it was just normal. The thing is, I don't like to be normal. In a sense, I always want to be abnormal—in other words better than average.

As the turnover became increasingly frustrating, I didn’t want to settle for “normal” turnover rates. Learning from leaders like Gary Keller who preached getting a few key hires will change the trajectory of your business, I sought out a consultant to help refine our/my hiring process and build a system that aligned the right person with the right role.

Have a Plan

The first step is to get real clear on what it is and who it is your organization needs. Start with building out a robust job profile. At Faris Capital Partners we include the following in our job profiles: the role mission, the expected results, the required skills, the personality and behavorial attributes of the right candidate, the job responsibilities, the roles SMART goals, the vital fucntions and metrics of the role, and the first 90-day priorities of the role. Once the team is aligned on all of this, we craft the job posting and/or engage a recruiter.

A Four-Step Hiring Process

The main shift was moving from a one-step process to a minimum four-step process. First, we conduct a screening interview to discuss culture and, in a sense, try to scare candidates away if they’re not aligned. We set the standard and explain our expectations clearly. For example, at Faris Capital Partners, I’ll let people know that we operate like a startup—we may not have every process spelled out, and they need to be comfortable building the train track after the train has already left the station, so to speak. By setting these expectations upfront, candidates who thrive in more corporate environments often self-select out. They're used to those more corporate roles where everything's spelled out and they come in, put their head down, and do the same things every day.

Next is the comprehensive interview, focused specifically on role-related questions. I take time to develop these questions in advance and ensure that they stay consistent across interviews. I will often spend a few hours just working and refining these questions. A great resource can be the TopGrading interview questions–I found them online with a simple Google search. They are a great starting point for interviewing as their questions are open-ended and specifically ask for examples to back up the candidate's answers. By building out a question set in advance it allows for a more direct comparison of responses across candidates. 

If a candidate does well, we then conduct a behavioral assessment and review it together. This helps validate the impressions we’ve gathered from the initial interviews, revealing whether the candidate’s behavior aligns with the role’s needs. This is often a point where I will pump the breaks. If I find misalignment in the answers given in prior interviews with the behavioral assessment I dig in deep but I often find, in this case, I may have been dupped by someone who is just good at interviewing (side note, sometimes those that are most nervous in the interview process turn out to be my best hires as their nerves are a sign of genuine interest in working with us.)

Finally, the commitment interview is where we go back to core values and discuss how we like to work together, how to build trust, and how we prefer to give and receive feedback. If this goes well, we extend the offer. That said, if something comes up in this conversation that we don’t like, I can still pump the breaks on that offer if need be. 

The Impact of a Deliberate Process

Hiring will never be perfect, but since implementing this process across both my previous organization and Faris Capital Partners, our turnover—especially among key hires and leadership—has significantly declined. When you hire someone, you owe them the responsibility to deliver on what you’ve promised. Hiring is a two-way street: the candidate will work hard to deliver on their role, and as the leader, you have to make sure the job, the culture, and the support are exactly as described. Taking this time upfront ensures we’re hiring someone into a role where they have a genuine opportunity to shine and be the best version of themselves.

Some Interview Questions I Love: 

Describe your reading habits.

What is the last great book you read? 

Please describe your decision making process…are you more decisive and quick, but sometimes too quick, or are you more thorough but sometimes too slow? 

Please describe a situation where you had to learn a lot quickly. How did you go about learning, and how successful was the outcome? 

What have you specifically done in the past to remain more knowledgeable about your industry and the competitive landscape? 

What are some of the biggest risks you have taken in the past few years and what were the outcomes? 

What actions would you take in the first few weeks, should you join our organization? 

What are some examples of when you have gone above and beyond the call of duty in a role? What happened? 

Are you better at initiating a lot of things or hammering our results on fewer things? 

Key Leadership Lesson: Read at least 24 books a year

Key Leadership Lesson: Read at least 24 books a year

I’ve always been a big reader. Starting in college, I really got into fiction from the great American authors. I found so much joy in stepping outside of myself and learning about characters and people who lived experiences so different from mine. I grew up in a middle-class, well-to-do family, so seeing perspectives outside of that was really helpful. Plus, I just loved entertaining stories.

As I got older and moved into leadership, I shifted toward reading more leadership books, which helped me tremendously in my early days. I learned not only managerial techniques for getting the best results but also the soft skills necessary to get the most out of myself and my team. Today, I read 40-plus books a year, and I’ve broadened my scope to include books about human nature and psychology. For example, right now, I’m reading The Confidence Game by Maria Konnikova, which talks about how scam artists and fraudsters deceive people. At first glance, it might not seem relevant to leadership, but it’s been insightful in spotting red flags in business relationships, particularly new ones.

At the end of the day, not all readers are leaders, but in my experience, all leaders are readers. It’s important to always be inputting new information into your brain so you can make the best possible decisions when faced with tough or novel situations.

Some of the Books That Have Shaped My Leadership

The books that have influenced me the most—ones that I’ve reread—are Good to Great by Jim Collins, John Wooden on Leadership, and Shoe Dog by Phil Knight. Each of these books is different in approach but offers incredible insights into leadership.

Shoe Dog especially resonated with me because of how much struggle and failure Phil Knight endured before Nike found success. It took decades for the company to take off, but his persistence was key. Another part that stood out was how he moved his team into new roles from time to time to keep things fresh and ensure different perspectives across the company. And from a business process perspective, he emphasized keeping the company lean and quick in decision-making, something I’ve tried to implement myself.

Good to Great is a must-have for any leader. It’s all about pursuing excellence and continuous growth, reminding you to mind the small details. 

And John Wooden on Leadership is, in my opinion, the blueprint for leadership. So many leadership books today are just reworking concepts that Wooden first laid out.

How I Fit Reading Into My Day

For me, reading is a priority. I follow a strict routine most days, waking up around 5:30 a.m., doing some breathing techniques and meditation, and then reading for about an hour before hitting the gym. I sometimes find time during lunch for a walk while listening to an audiobook. In the evening, I take another 30 to 45 minutes to read.

It’s all about prioritizing. You have to decide whether you’re going to watch random episodes of a TV show or carve out time to read. That doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy a bit of junk TV, but reading is a daily habit. I tell people to find what works best for them, whether it’s listening to audiobooks on your commute, reading in the morning before the day starts, or picking up a book before bed. I don’t accept the excuse that people don’t have time to read. I run a successful business, have three kids, make it to their soccer and volleyball games, help out around the house, and still find time every day to read because it’s important to me.

How Reading Influences My Leadership

Reading widely—both fiction and nonfiction—gives you insight into how others have approached difficult situations. It provides clarity in those tough moments. A key benefit is also learning about human nature. I always tell people that great fiction is about the characters, and great authors have an innate understanding of human behavior.

For instance, Stephen King’s The Shining isn’t about a haunted hotel, it’s about a man struggling with alcoholism, and the hotel represents his inner demons. Having had family members with alcohol issues, reading that book helped me better understand what they were going through and how I could offer empathy and support.

For leaders, understanding human nature is crucial. Empathy doesn’t come naturally to me, but reading has helped me develop that skill. It allows me to step into the shoes of my team, family, and friends, making me a better leader. Reading books, especially fiction and books on human nature, has been a key factor in my success.

Key Leadership Lesson: Listen more than you speak

Listen More Than You Speak

When I was first offered a leadership position in my mid-20s, I initially thought that leadership meant speaking up and making my voice heard in every situation. I quickly learned that wasn’t true. A pivotal shift happened when I read Multipliers by Liz Wiseman, a book that fundamentally changed my perspective. It taught me that a leader’s role is to extract the best ideas from the team, listen deeply, and only speak about 10-15% of the time in meetings. That was a game-changer for me.

I naturally tend to ask a lot of questions – curiosity is second nature. So, the idea of remaining in curiosity came easily. Instead of leading by speaking, I realized my job was to create an environment where the team could solve problems, and I could guide decisions by understanding their inputs and filtering for the best outcomes.

Creating a Safe Space for Open Dialogue

To ensure team members feel confident sharing their ideas, it’s critical to establish a safe, judgment-free environment. We use what I call “green light meetings,” where no idea is criticized, and everyone is encouraged to share freely. Even off-the-wall ideas can lead to breakthroughs. Once all ideas are on the table, we move to a “red light” phase, where we edit, combine, and evaluate the best ones.

The key is fostering a culture where there are no bad ideas, just ideas that need refining. The goal is for the best idea to win, no matter whose it is, and as a leader, there’s nothing better than when the team brings forward a better solution than the one I had in mind.

Staying Disciplined in Speaking Less

At first, it can be hard to keep quiet in meetings. Instinctively, as leaders, we think we should dominate conversations, but that handicaps the team. When leaders do all the talking, the team becomes dependent on them, unable to make decisions without their input. That’s why we train our team to come with solutions, not just problems. Over time, they learn to think critically and solve issues on their own.

Encouraging Problem Solving and Ownership

If someone brings a problem without potential solutions, I ask them to take a step back and think of a few before coming to me. It’s a gentle reminder that we expect everyone to contribute to solving challenges. Our culture encourages critical thinking, and if someone doesn’t align with that approach, it might mean they aren’t the right fit for our team.

Our goal is to hire people who enjoy autonomy and are entrepreneurial in their thinking. We align incentives so that when the company wins, they win too. By empowering them and giving them the freedom to act, we’re able to create a high-performance team that continuously improves.

Ultimately, it’s about focusing on our “North Star” – our investors and residents. Every decision must add value to both, and if it doesn’t, we know it’s not worth pursuing.

Key Leadership Lesson: Operate with intention

One of the key factors a leader needs to get clear on is their decision-making process. So often, we make decisions based on intuition that isn’t grounded in any data. Now, if you’ve been in a particular industry for many years, often that intuition will be correct. What you’re really dealing with is pattern recognition, and you’re leveraging that internal pattern to make a wise decision (as discussed before, I encourage myself and others to listen to their gut, but within reason.)

However, as Daniel Kahneman explains in Thinking, Fast and Slow, there are two systems of decision-making. System 1 is fast, automatic, and often emotional. It’s great for quick decisions like what to wear or what to have for lunch—decisions that, if you had to consciously think about, would slow you down to the point of paralysis. System 2, on the other hand, is slower, more deliberate, and requires conscious effort.

As a leader, it’s critical to recognize when you’re in an environment of stress or excitement because your instinct might be to default to System 1, which leads to rash or convenient decisions. It’s important to slow down, ensure you’re not making decisions purely based on emotions, and instead engage System 2 thinking. This is where you take the time to study the data, listen to your team, and consider different viewpoints before moving forward.

Intentionality is key. If you find yourself in an emotional state, whether that’s excitement, anger, or frustration, it’s a sign that you need to slow things down. That might mean telling the team, “I need to sleep on this,” or giving yourself time to deliberate. The goal is to avoid decisions made out of convenience or emotion, and instead, to focus on facts, data, thoughtful reflection and a little intuition.

Early in my career, I leaned heavily on System 1 decision-making. I had been selling real estate for years, closing over 100 homes a year, and I got into a mindset where I felt I knew it all. When I stepped into leadership, I was quick to give decisions without slowing down to engage in more thoughtful, deliberate consideration.

One issue that arose was I wasn’t always explaining the reasons behind my decisions to the team. This lack of clarity created a dependency, where team members began to rely on me in an unhealthy way. They weren’t developing their own decision-making skills because I wasn’t taking the time to walk them through my thought process.

An example that stands out is when I was presented with a 100-page legal document and faced pressure to make a fast decision. Relying on my gut and trusting the intentions of the other party, I skimmed through it without a full read. This was a classic System 1 reaction—assuming the document was fine based on familiarity rather than analyzing the details. Unfortunately, this led to negative consequences for both myself and the company.

When we’re under stress, we tend to default to easy decisions. It’s tempting to say, “I trust this person, so this document must be good,” but that’s dangerous thinking. That’s where engaging System 2—slower, more deliberate thinking—is crucial.

In hindsight, I’ve learned that while gut instinct and intuition are important, especially when you have experience in a particular area, for major decisions you need to leverage both intuition and data. This combination ensures you’re not just making decisions based on habit, emotion, or pressure, but with a full understanding of the potential consequences.

Approaching High-Pressure Decisions with Intentionality

When I’m faced with a high-pressure decision, the first thing I remind myself is to pause and breathe. It’s easy to let urgency dictate a fast decision, but in those moments, it’s crucial to engage System 2 thinking and deliberately slow down. I’ve learned over time that when stress or urgency is involved, it’s even more important to take a step back and ensure I’m not just reacting.

One practical step I take is to gather as much data as possible, but not to the point of analysis paralysis. It’s about finding that balance—getting enough information to make an informed decision while not letting the pressure push me into a rash choice. I’ll also engage my team, asking for their input and encouraging them to bring multiple perspectives to the table. This not only helps me make a more balanced decision but also keeps the team involved and ensures we’re all aligned.

Another key is setting aside my initial emotional reactions. If I feel excited or anxious, I know that’s System 1 trying to take over. In those moments, I’ll say to the team, “Let’s take a day to think this through,” or even just give myself an extra hour to cool off and re-evaluate. The aim is to be intentional, even when time is tight, and ensure I’m making the best possible decision for the long-term goals of the business, not just responding to immediate pressure.

This approach ties back to what Kahneman describes as cognitive ease—the brain’s tendency to take the path of least resistance. When we’re under pressure, the easy way out is to make quick decisions based purely on gut feelings or initial impressions. But I’ve found that by consciously engaging in deeper, more thoughtful decision-making, I can ensure that I’m operating with intention and not just reacting to surface-level triggers.

Fostering a Culture of Intentional Decision-Making

Creating a culture where the team makes thoughtful, intentional decisions starts with leading by example. If I’m always rushing through decisions, or making snap judgments, the team will naturally follow that behavior. So I focus on demonstrating what intentional decision-making looks like by pausing, gathering input, and carefully considering options before arriving at a conclusion.

One of the first things I do is encourage the team to slow down and think through their decisions, especially when they feel pressured. I’ll often remind them to consider both the data and the context. For example, when a problem arises, I ask them to bring not just the issue, but also a few potential solutions. That pushes them to think critically and encourages System 2 thinking, where they’re analyzing the problem rather than jumping to quick fixes.

I also work on building a culture of psychological safety where it’s okay to take time to evaluate decisions. When there’s a high-pressure situation, I’ll let the team know it’s fine to take a day or two to think things through, and that it’s better to get the decision right than to get it fast. I stress the importance of asking for help or input if they’re unsure, instead of pushing through with a decision just to move things forward quickly.

We also hold regular “debriefs” after major projects or decisions, where we reflect on the process and outcomes. This helps the team see the value of slowing down to think and evaluate before acting. It’s all about making thoughtful decision-making a part of the fabric of the team’s day-to-day work.

Finally, I emphasize avoiding the halo effect, which Kahneman describes as the bias of letting first impressions cloud judgment. We make sure to gather multiple perspectives and revisit initial conclusions. It’s about slowing down enough to ensure we aren’t making decisions based on the first idea or the loudest voice in the room, but on the best collective thinking.