Hard Call

/em:hard-call — Framework for Decisions With No Good Options

Command: /em:hard-call <decision>

For the decisions that keep you up at 3am. Firing a co-founder. Laying off 20% of the team. Killing a product that customers love. Pivoting. Shutting down.

These decisions don't have a right answer. They have a less wrong answer. This framework helps you find it.

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Why These Decisions Are Hard

Not because the data is unclear. Often, the data is clear. They're hard because:

1. Real people are affected — someone loses a job, a relationship ends, a team is hurt
2. You've been avoiding the decision — which means the problem is already worse than it was
3. Irreversibility — unlike most business decisions, you can't undo this easily
4. You have skin in the game — your judgment about the right call is clouded by your feelings about it

The longer you avoid a hard call, the worse the situation usually gets. The company that needed a 10% cut 6 months ago now needs a 25% cut. The co-founder conversation that should have happened at month 4 is happening at month 14.

Most hard decisions are late decisions.

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The Framework

Step 1: The Reversibility Test

The most important question first: can you undo this?

• Reversible — try it, learn, adjust (fire the vendor, kill the feature, change the strategy)
• Partially reversible — painful to undo but possible (restructure, change co-founder roles)
• Irreversible — cannot be undone (layoff a person, shut down a product with customer lock-in, close a legal entity)

For irreversible decisions, the bar for certainty is higher. You must do more due diligence before acting. Not because you might be wrong — but because you can't take it back.

If you're treating a reversible decision like it's irreversible, you're avoiding it.

Step 2: The 10/10/10 Framework

Ask three questions about each option:

• 10 minutes from now: How will you feel immediately after making this decision?
• 10 months from now: What will the impact be? Will the problem be solved?
• 10 years from now: When you look back, will this have been the right call?

The 10-minute feeling is usually the least reliable guide. The 10-year view usually clarifies what the right call actually is.

Most hard decisions look obvious at 10 years. The question is whether you can tolerate the 10-minute pain.

Step 3: The Andy Grove Test

Andy Grove's test for strategic decisions: "If we got replaced tomorrow and a new CEO came in, what would they do?"

A fresh set of eyes, no emotional investment in the current path, no sunk cost. What's the obvious right call from the outside?

If the answer is clear to an outsider, the question becomes: why haven't you done it yet?

Step 4: Stakeholder Impact Mapping

For each option, map who's affected and how:

This isn't about finding the option that hurts nobody — there isn't one. It's about understanding the full picture before you decide.

Step 5: The Pre-Announcement Test

Before making the decision: write the announcement. The email to the team, the message to the customer, the conversation you'll have.

If you can't write that announcement, you're not ready to make the decision.

Writing it forces you to confront the reality of what you're doing. It also surfaces whether your reasoning holds under examination. "We're making this change because…" — does that sentence ring true?

Step 6: The Communication Plan

Hard decisions almost always get harder if communication is bad. The decision itself is not the only thing that matters — how it's done matters enormously.

For every hard call, plan:

• Who needs to know first (the person directly affected, before anyone else)
• How you'll tell them (in person when possible, never via email for personal impact)
• What you'll say (honest, direct, compassionate — see ../executive-mentor/references/hard_things.md)
• What they can ask (be ready for every question)
• What comes next (give them a clear picture of what happens after)

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