“Don’t Risk Too Little. Don’t Rescue Too Soon” – the growth lesson I learned outside the boardroom.
My son once played striker in a school tournament. With minutes left and his team trailing, he broke through the defense and had a clean look at the goal. He hesitated, and the shot went wide.
After the game, he was gutted, feeling he’d let his team down. I resisted the urge to shield him or to soften the blow by reframing the situation. Because part of growth is learning to carry the memory of the missed shot and then seeking the ball again.
And part of leadership is resisting the urge to step in too soon. Letting people feel it, learn from it, and come back stronger. It’s about building people who take the shot the next time.
The failed shot taught us both more than the win could. And it’s a lesson that still drives how I deal with uncertainty and growth. Growth needs space to try, stretch, sometimes fall short, and then build back stronger.
Businesses often live in that tense middle zone between ambition and constraint. You’re big enough to feel pressure to scale, but are not always ready with the infrastructure, clarity, or depth to scale well.
And when pressure builds, the instinct kicks in:
But here’s the paradox: When growth is rushed, it doesn’t stick. Growth that’s overly cautious usually stalls.
The real leadership move is learning to tolerate the wobble and letting your systems stretch without snapping. It’s choosing not to jump in too early when your team hits discomfort, and instead holding the space for them to learn, build capacity, and build new muscle.
1. Don’t Overbuild the Machine. Let It Learn First
You don’t need a perfect process before you need proof of traction.
In a global marketing role, I was part of a team scaling a new offering across dozens of markets. There was pressure to lock in the go-to-market engine, end-to-end, role-by-role. But our demand signals were still uneven, and buyer behavior wasn’t consistent.
Instead of over-architecting too early, we piloted leaner plays across five high-variance markets. Once real traction emerged, we scaled the structure, solidifying the messaging, enablement, and activation rhythms.
The result was faster uptake, stronger internal alignment, and a playbook that teams adopted and iterated upon, till we reached a strong, repeatable rhythm.
Don’t risk too little by waiting for perfect clarity. But don’t overbuild before the market tells you what matters.
CEO Checkpoint: You’re building an ABM engine. Technology, scoring models, and orchestration are in place. But Sales isn’t aligned, and your ICP is still to be proven. Do you go full throttle, or pilot ABM principles in 3 key accounts and scale what works?
2. Let the Stretch Work Its MagicRescuing too early denies your team the moments that build capability and confidence.
Our team was working to drive tech adoption with government stakeholders. It was high-stakes, and our Sales leaders were unsure how to position cloud solutions to public-sector buyers.
The easy move would’ve been pre-packaged product pitches. Instead, we empowered our teams to collaborate cross-functionally and co-create local stories of tangible impact. We anchored our messaging in what the mission meant rather than just what the product did.
Engagement and confidence increased. So did the impact. Stretch creates ownership.
Where it gets real: Your team is testing a new channel. Early results aren’t promising yet, but the strategy is sound. Do you declare it inefficient, or give them time, coaching, and air cover to get good at it?
3. Back the BetThe riskiest thing to do is to commit halfway. Signal confidence in strategy, but starve the effort when it doesn’t pay back instantly. Or pull back when you hit operational hurdles.
We were preparing to relaunch the iconic Nokia 3310 when the marketing budget was suddenly slashed. There was no plan B.
So, we got scrappy. We launched a zero-dollar social campaign inviting users and brands to remake the legendary Snake game, an essential element of the original Nokia phone experience. The response exploded, with big brands leveraging their mega social media audiences to own the cultural moment with us. Their budgets and audiences did the marketing for us. What started as nostalgia became a social groundswell. Device preorders soared, and we re-entered the public imagination with zero ad spend.
Leadership Litmus Test: What do you do when the thing you’ve committed to loses its scaffolding? Cancel it quietly? Or trust your team to find the spark that turns a setback into success?
“Don’t risk too little. Don’t rescue too soon”.
It doesn’t mean being reckless. And it doesn’t mean being absent. It means knowing when to step in and when not to. When to speed up, and when to let it breathe.
Above all, it means remembering that great businesses aren’t built by controlling every move. They’re built by creating conditions where people, products, and ideas can stretch and grow.
Curious about how to build more stretch, structure, and scale into your next growth chapter? I work with mid-market CEOs to transform marketing from a cost center into a growth engine.