The Tyranny of Decision Fatigue

Sales plans, new hires, contractual redlines—the founder’s job is a tireless game of resource allocation and decision fatigue. The tyranny of the urgent demand swift decisions, often at the expense of deep analysis. Over time, these quick calls accumulate into a bank of heuristics, each formed under pressure. If left unchallenged, these mental shortcuts narrow the founder’s once-vast ocean of possibilities into a trickling stream of outcomes.

Reflecting on the sale of Prognosis after discussing it in a room full of founders, I realized how much my own hurried decisions had calcified my vision. Each quick decision, while seemingly necessary, cemented a narrower path forward. With every choice, my emotional investment grew, making it harder to pause and reconsider the broader landscape. Only by stepping back and inviting fresh perspectives could I begin to erode the steep banks I had unconsciously built around my options.

The Cost of Narrow Vision

The entrepreneurial journey is marked by rapid decisions made under tight deadlines. Each answer provides immediate relief but often comes at the expense of future optionality. In the drive to “complete the symphony,” founders feel compelled to answer every question, tackle every uncertainty, and secure every loose end. This frenetic pace builds the illusion of productivity but often blinds us to the costs.

I remember driving home after a particularly grueling day at Prognosis, feeling a sense of accomplishment from having made countless decisions. Yet, in hindsight, each hasty choice limited the possibilities I could explore later. Expediency became the metric of success, even though it was eroding the foundation of long-term growth. Each quick decision was another brick in the narrowing stream of my perspective.

The Power of Objectivity

The objective viewpoint is both a founder’s gift and their greatest fear. Detached perspectives can serve as mirrors, reflecting truths that founders, clouded by their emotional investments and confirmation biases, fail to see. This clarity, however, can be terrifying. It reveals not just overlooked possibilities but also the frailty of our confidence.

During the sale of Prognosis, I presented what I thought was an inevitable narrative: a single buyer and a single path forward. Yet, when I welcomed uninitiated input years later with the benefit of emotional insulation, the floodgates opened. They identified overlooked options, reshaped my understanding, and dismantled the narrow story I had been telling myself. Their unencumbered insights expanded my view, showing me the breadth of choices I had prematurely dismissed.

Embracing objectivity is like wiping fog from a mirror—it shatters dogmatic thinking and reveals the broader truth. It is a powerful tool for reshaping not just decisions but the frameworks we use to make them.

Perspectives in Physics: The Double-Slit Experiment

Physics offers a compelling analogy for the power of perspective. In the famous double-slit experiment, a single electron behaves in radically different ways depending on whether it’s being observed. Left alone, it flows like a wave—free, undefined, full of possibility. But the moment it’s observed, it collapses into a particle—fixed, defined, and bound to a specific path. The simple act of observation changes its behavior, as though the electron itself responds to the presence of an outside gaze.

Business decisions work much the same way. Every time we invite a new perspective into the process, it’s like adding a fresh observer to the experiment. Objective viewpoints don’t rewrite the facts of the decision, but they alter how those facts are framed. They widen the lens, reshaping the boundaries of what’s possible. Suddenly, the path that seemed inevitable becomes one of many. Just as the electron’s possibilities expand under observation, so too does the founder’s range of outcomes when others are invited to look at the problem.

This isn’t always comfortable. For founders, bringing in outside perspectives often feels like giving up control or admitting vulnerability. But what it really does is unlock a broader world of options—paths we hadn’t considered, behaviors we hadn’t noticed, outcomes we couldn’t see from our solitary vantage point. The act of inviting uninvested voices doesn’t diminish our leadership; it strengthens it. It reminds us that, like the electron, our decisions are shaped by the way we choose to observe them—and by the courage to let others see what we might have missed.

Resistance to Broader Perspectives

Why, then, do we resist outside perspectives? Partly, it’s hubris; we fear being wrong. More insidiously, it’s time. The pace of entrepreneurship convinces us that we’ve already exhausted all avenues. The river flows fast, and the prospect of pausing to explore alternatives feels like a luxury we cannot afford.

At Prognosis, the decision to sell appeared binary: to sell or not to sell. This false dichotomy increased urgency and minimized exploration. I felt as though I had evaluated all the options, but hindsight reveals the limits of my perspective. The narrowness stemmed not from a lack of effort but from a scarcity mindset and a fear of what broader exploration might cost.

I had the benefit of seven years of emotional separation from the decision. Despite that, I still felt the temptation to protect and defend my prior decisions. That defensive posture decays over time demonstrating how challenging it is to embrace this thinking when the decision is immediate. And yet, that is exactly when I need this the most.

Practical Strategies for Expanding Perspective

So, how can founders go beyond their narrow channels? By putting a few principles into practice, we can harness the power of objective perspectives without losing sight of our own vision:

1. Form Unbiased Advisory Boards Invite advisors who have no personal stakes in your company’s success. Their detached insights can challenge assumptions and expand your view.
2. Design Decision Frameworks Separate emotion from analysis by using structured frameworks with measurable goals and scenarios. This ensures decisions are grounded in logic and long-term value.
3. Embrace the Devil’s Advocate Assign someone in your circle to actively challenge your thinking. Their role is not to critique you but to expand the field of possibilities.
4. Hire a Coach A trusted business coach can offer consistent, objective insights, holding you accountable and disrupting the calcification of decision patterns in real time.

Conclusion and Recommendations

Founders are often trapped by the limitations of their prior decisions. The narrow streams of thought we carve are shaped by urgency, bias, and emotional investment. It is only through humility and intentionality that we can break those steep banks and invite a flood of new possibilities.

The double-slit experiment teaches us that reality is shaped by perspective. By inviting objective insights, we open the door to alternative paths, reshaping not just the decisions before us but the frameworks we use to approach them. Founders must widen their banks, cultivate curiosity, and seek out the voices that challenge their assumptions.

My experience with Prognosis taught me the value of objectivity and the cost of ignoring it. Moving forward, my aim is to foster a culture of curiosity, where outside perspectives are welcomed and embraced. In doing so, we unlock the potential of decisions not yet made and create organizations capable of withstanding the unexpected.

To all founders, this is my call: widen your banks, welcome broader perspectives, and unlock the hidden depths of potential waiting just beyond your line of sight. By letting others illuminate your blind spots and inviting the river to overflow its banks, you create a flow toward a stronger, more resilient future.