Folks - the story I’m outlining in the next few emails is inspired by real events (although names and details have been changed).
Episode 1. The most dangerous thing a CEO can say…
Marcus smiled as his dashboard glowed green. His logistics startup, ApexRoute, had just crossed 50 employees. Revenue was soaring. But success brought a heavy burden; Marcus felt he had to have every answer.
Then came the holiday rush.
His Head of Operations, Sarah, came to him with a blunt warning: "Our software can't handle this volume. We need to throttle new client sign-ups for two weeks, or the system will crash."
Marcus bristled. Limiting growth felt like losing. "We don't turn away revenue," he declared, overriding her. "Push the servers to the limit." He didn't ask for data. He didn't consult his engineers. He made a solo executive call to protect the company's hot streak.
Black Friday arrived. By noon, the surge of orders choked the unoptimised servers. The entire platform crashed.
For twelve agonizing hours, ApexRoute went completely dark. Deliveries vanished, angry clients flooded the phone lines, and three of their largest enterprise accounts cancelled their contracts on the spot. By midnight, Marcus sat alone in the empty office, staring at a projected loss of £200,000 and a ruined reputation.
Sarah walked in, exhausted, holding a coffee.
Marcus looked up, his defensive armor completely gone. "I ruined it," he said quietly. "You warned me, and I didn't listen because I was terrified of looking weak."
The Takeaway for CEOs: Don’t add to the risk
It was a devastating, self-inflicted wound. Marcus fell into the ultimate leadership trap: believing that being the boss means carrying all of the weight alone. Do you ‘carrying the company’ on your own? If you do, you’re adding to the risk.
In my next post, we’ll look at what Marcus did next that changed how he approached building his business.
Paul Essery
+44 (0) 771 782 3377
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