The Firefighter
Your strongest area was your team, and your weakest was cash.
It won't show up this year, but your team notices you're building for the long run.
Play againCheck your real numbers
What each decision was about
The big customer wants a discount
You chose: Give them the full discount.
Customer concentration turns every negotiation into a risk decision.
A star leaves for a rival
You chose: Offer a smaller raise and a path to lead the team.
One person holding the relationships is a business risk long before they resign.
AI pitch at the board table
You chose: Tell the board it can wait until next year.
AI value comes from a specific workflow with clean data and an owner, not from an announcement.
Slow-paying customers
You chose: Offer a small discount for early payment.
Profit and cash are different things, and receivables are often the cheapest cash you can find.
A shiny new market
You chose: Pass and deepen your home market.
Expansion is a focus decision first and a revenue decision second.
The quality problem
You chose: Fix only the ones who complain.
Trust is usually lost in how you respond, not in the original mistake.
Your team is exhausted
You chose: Hire three people now.
Capacity problems look like motivation problems until you measure them.
A competitor cuts prices
You chose: Launch a cheaper, limited version.
A price war is only worth entering if you know your unit economics better than your rival does.
The founder bottleneck
You chose: Stay close, because the quality depends on you.
A company that needs its CEO for everything is harder to grow and harder to sell.
An unexpected offer
You chose: Decline and stay focused.
The best time to prepare for a sale is well before anyone asks.
Marketing wants more budget
You chose: Approve the full budget.
More leads aren't the goal. Knowing what each customer costs you is.
Year-end priorities
You chose: Invest in systems and training.
Strategy is mostly choosing what you won't do next year.