There’s a pattern I fall into more than I’d like, and I’ve watched plenty of firm owners fall into the exact same one, especially with AI tools lately.
Excitement hits, and suddenly the whole team is living with a decision nobody actually planned for.
In this episode, I’m breaking down where that pattern comes from and the small checkpoint that fixes it.
Listen below.
0:47 Here’s a confession my team would back up instantly: I run on gut instinct. When something feels right, I move on it fast.
2:58 Acting on instinct alone as the owner isn’t just a decision, it’s chaos someone else has to absorb downstream. And the bigger the call, the more that chaos adds up.
4:04 Years of experience sharpen your pattern recognition, and confidence turns that into action. Neither of those is the issue. Ego is what makes it risky, and it’s the one thing firm owners rarely admit is in the mix.
5:06 None of this makes gut instinct wrong, it’s earned and genuinely valuable. It just means that instinct can look more objective than it is, especially with an idea you’re excited about and eager to claim.
7:39 A question worth sitting with before your next rollout: can you explain the problem this new tool solves in one sentence? If not, that’s usually a sign of excitement, not a real need.
8:34 The goal isn’t to eliminate gut instinct, or bury every decision in research. Instincts are valuable, and many of my best moves started with just a hunch.
11:48 Do this well, and the results show up quickly. A rollout that used to take a month of cleanup can happen in a week when people have a say beforehand.
