Recover from Bad Decisions
Go from "we blew it" to "we've got this" with the crisis-management playbook for senior leaders and executives
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If you are making bold, timely decisions…some will be wrong.
There will be failures and consequences.
But fast failure isn’t the opposite of success — it’s the cost of speed and the fuel of learning. Leaders who cannot accept the potential for any failure at all slow themselves and the team down.
They chase false certainty and ultimately miss the window to make an impact.
In this newsletter, we will cover:
Three mental shifts to “fail-fast”.
Specific steps to handle failure gracefully and productively.
How to handle crises stemming from miscalculated decisions.
How to convert crisis intro trust and step up as a leader.
You will learn how to treat your misses for what they are: information, not permanent disasters.
Three shifts to make
In order to adopt a productive “fail-fast” posture, there are three mental shifts you need to make.
First, redefine failure as learning. For example, “We shipped and something broke” is not a failure. It is a step towards shipping something that works. The true failure would be to look back and realize you have learned nothing and stopped moving. Real failure is paralysis, not imperfection.
Second, separate decision quality from outcomes. As a leader, your job is to make the best decision available with the time, data, and constraints you have, and then to learn from them. Good decisions sometimes produce bad outcomes, and bad decisions sometimes get lucky. Judge the process of making the decision, not just the result. If you judge solely based on the outcomes of every decision, you will train your org to avoid risk and slow down.
Third, take steps to limit your downsides. Accepting failure does not mean being reckless, and you must take every possible step to mitigate risks: cut scope, time-box, launch to a slice of customers, and put guardrails and tripwires in place. Consciously taking risks means limiting exposure where you can, even if the decision is inherently risky.
Practical habits that reinforce this mindset:
Pre-decide what success and “pull back” look like. When the tripwire hits, you should not be surprised or be caught without a plan.
Share the potential for a crisis before the action is taken. Say, “We’re moving with 70% of the data. If we’re wrong, we’ll pivot by date X.” This helps everyone prepare and normalizes learning through risk and failure.
Praise clean misses. When a team runs a tight test, kills a dud quickly, and shares what they learn — celebrate it. Treat it as a win, not a failure. Speed and honesty compound.
If you are accustomed to a “no mistakes” culture, start small.
Pick a reversible decision, design a one-week test, and make the learning visible.
Courage and confidence grow with reps, and you will be able to graduate to taking bigger risks.
Bonus, remember that not all bad outcomes mean the decision was bad. A decision with a 90% chance of success still goes wrong 10% of the time. An example is going to the beach in the summer — 90% chance of sun, but it can still rain the day you go. This bad outcome will have consequences, but it doesn’t mean the decision was bad. Separate actual mistakes from true bad luck.
How to Recover
Now that we have gone over how to set up calculated risks, we need to go over what to do when things go wrong.
Because they will…