Principle #23 – Diagnose before you prescribe.
If doctors worked like some leaders, they’d say:
“You’re coughing? Here’s surgery. Also, take these horse pills.”
Ridiculous, right? Yet in business, we do it all the time—jumping to solutions before we even understand the problem.
Quick fixes feel good, like handing out aspirin for every ache. But if the real issue is a broken leg, aspirin won’t help—you need a cast. Misdiagnosis wastes time, money, and sometimes makes things worse.
The Hero’s Move
- Ask more questions: What’s really causing the pain? (Hint: it’s rarely the first thing you hear.)
- Check multiple “patients”: Get perspectives from different people who see the problem differently.
- Run tests before treatment: Pilot small solutions before scaling up.
This isn’t slow—it’s smart medicine for your business. Diagnosing first helps you treat the actual illness, not just quiet the symptoms.
The Next Step
Before prescribing your next “cure,” pause and ask: “What’s really going on here?” Then check your diagnosis with at least two other people.Because in leadership, just like medicine, the wrong prescription can create side effects you don’t want to manage later.
