Nobody Cares

When you are the CEO and your company is in trouble, you will be tempted to explain all the legitimate, valid, and unfair reasons for your predicament: the market crashed, a key customer went bankrupt, a competitor made an irrational move.

The most important piece of advice in that moment is: Nobody cares.

• Your investors don't care about your excuses; they care about their money.
• Your employees don't care about the reasons; they care about their jobs.
• The media doesn't care about your story; they care about the drama of your failure.
• Your customers don't care about your problems; they care about whether your product will continue to work for them.

And they are right not to care. A great reason for failing does not change the outcome.

The Practical Application:

This is not a call to be callous. It is a call for radical focus and accountability.

• Spend zero time on what you could have done. All the mental energy spent crafting narratives about why you are a victim of circumstance is wasted.
• Devote all your time to what you might do. Your entire focus must be on finding the one, seemingly impossible path forward.

Stop looking for sympathy. Stop making excuses, even to yourself. Just run your company.

Tags: #leadership #accountability #focus #mindset #execution #hard-things #crisis-management