The First Exit Is Usually the Easiest

Think of every developing problem as a highway with a series of exits. The first exit appears early — a private conversation, a small correction, a standard calmly restated. It costs almost nothing.

The second exit costs more. The third costs more still. Miss enough of them, and the only remaining exit involves lawyers, resignations, incident reports, or press releases.

This is Shrinking Optionality: earlier choices — including the choice to wait — eliminate better options later. Leaders rarely notice the exits disappearing because nothing forces them to look. The situation is still ‘fine.’ The metrics are still green. Until they aren’t.

Why do capable leaders drive past open exits? Usually not arrogance — arithmetic. Acting early has a certain, immediate cost: an awkward conversation, a delayed deliverable, an uncomfortable meeting. Waiting has an uncertain, deferred cost. Human beings discount deferred costs. Organizations do too.

Decision Point Discipline is the practice of creating enough space between stimulus and response to ask one question: what does waiting actually cost if I’m wrong?

Leaders who ask that question take the first exit. Leaders who don’t eventually take the last one — and explain to everyone else why there were no warning signs. There were. They were the exits.