Ep 757 | The Courage to Reverse Course

Thank you for joining me today. It's Brian Gubernick, and welcome to the No Days Off Podcast, where we believe that every single day brings a new opportunity to get better. Before I dive into today's episode about the courage to reverse course, I just want to say a quick thanks to everybody that's been listening to the No Days Off Podcast and has been following me. And the other things that I do, the TED Talk that you all inspired that I did in April 2025 and it posted to YouTube in June of 2025, we just exceeded 1 million views and it was a goal, it was a target. Now, we're on to the next big goal with respect to that TED Talk. But I so appreciate the No Days Off Nation support for helping that dream become a reality, not just in terms of, accumulating the views, but the impact or the number of people that I've had an ability to impact because of you all sharing it and promoting it as you have. So, thank you so much. I really appreciate it. If you haven't watched that TED Talk yet, I, of course, would love you to do so. Just obviously go to YouTube and search Brian Gubernick or go to TED Talk or TEDx and search Brian Gubernick, Time is Finite. Is The Talk, and it would mean the world if you, if you watched it. And if you liked it, um, please feel share— feel free to share it with others. On that note, let's get into today's episode. I want to ask everybody here, when was the last time you made a decision and then you realized, well, maybe you were wrong? And I'm not talking like a little wrong, I'm talking about really wrong. Like you rolled something out or you made some sort of announcement or you made a hire, you committed to something publicly and then a day later or a few days later or a week later, even a month later, you're sitting there thinking, that was not the right call. Now, here's the real question. When that occurred, what did you do next? Did you double down even though it may not have been the right call, just stayed the course? Did you try to justify? Did you hope that people would maybe just forget? Or did you have the courage to reverse course? Well, today I want to talk about something I think that separates average leaders from the elite leaders, and that's the courage to change your mind. And it was inspired by a partner of mine in a, in a charitable organization that we're part of, who I watched make a decision and then rewind that decision because he realized based on better data he eventually had that, that he didn't make the right call initially. And, and I watched him do it and I saw how hard it was for him, but I admire him so much for doing it because most just do not have the courage to change their mind. See, there's this, this belief, or maybe quiet belief in leadership, that if I reverse a decision, then I might lose credibility. And I just don't think that's true. You don't lose credibility for correcting a mistake. You lose credibility when you defend a mistake. Your team probably already knows when something isn't working. Your peers, or a peer or two, recognize that something's not working. They feel it, they see it, they maybe even talk about it when you're not around. And the only person that ends up pretending everything is fine is usually the leader. So it begs the question, why then don't we change the decision? And that's because it's hard. It's rarely strategic. It's usually ego or pride or fear of maybe looking weak that prompts us to not reverse course. It's the voice in your head that's saying, hey, if I, if I walk this back, the they're gonna think I don't know what I'm doing. But here's what I think to be the truth. That stubbornness that's masquerading as confidence is not real leadership. I think being able to adapt, having adaptability is true leadership. Think about the best leaders that you know or that you've studied. My guess is that they don't cling to bad data. They're not married to their ideas, especially the bad ideas. What they do is actually update their thinking. In investing, in financial investing, the best investors cut losses fast. In, in my world of endurance racing, if your fueling plan isn't working, you immediately adjust. You don't just keep eating the same thing just because it was part of the plan. I don't think leadership is all that much different. No decision is, is sacred. What is sacred, what we're married to though, are outcomes. So if you believe in what I'm saying, the question then is, how do I reverse a decision and not lose face, but better yet, gain respect? I think if you're going to change course, you got to do it the right way. There's actually a structure to this. I think number one, you've got to own it and own it very clearly. No, no blaming of, of the industry or the market, no blaming of the team, no hedging your bet. Just say, hey, I made this decision based on the information that I had at this time. With what I now know, it just wasn't the right call. And that's it. It's, it's short, it's confident, concise. It's It's clean. And the longer that you explain, the weaker it actually starts to sound. When you have that degree of clarity, you're coming from a position of strength. Frankly, you sound strong, you feel strong. So again, the statement would be, "Hey, I made this decision based on the information that I had at the moment. With what I now know, it wasn't the right call." So number 1, own it clearly. Number 2. Explain what changed. And I think this is really, really critical. You don't want the team thinking that you're emotional or you're reactive. Show them the new information. Here's what I learned, or here's what I did not anticipate, or here's what the numbers now show. When people see logic, they feel— they build trust, they feel trust, they feel stability. So, number 1, own it clearly. Number 2, explain what changed. Number 3, reinforce direction. I think most good teams don't fear mistakes. As a matter of fact, they expect mistakes. What they really fear is chaos. So, after you own it and you explain it, give the team or give the people around you the new path. Here's what we're gonna do instead. Here's why it's better. Here's what stays the same. Again, the stability, what's it do? It ends up restoring confidence. Now, if you really want to build a culture around this, say something like, one of our values in this company is adaptability. If something isn't working, we fix it fast. That's how we win. So now you've reframed the reversal as strength. And I think over time, your team learns something pretty powerful. And that's not— that's that we are not loyal to our decisions. We are loyal to our results. Now, what should you not do? I just told you what you should do in the 3-step process. And then the advanced move of talking, of building a culture around it. What should you not do? What you should not do is don't quietly, quietly pivot and then pretend it never happened. That erodes trust. Don't blame someone else. That destroys trust. Don't say we when you mean I. Ownership builds respect. And lastly, don't over-apologize. Confidence in correction is so much more powerful than some sort of emotional apology. I think here's the question I want you to wrestle with. Okay, 6 months from now, will you regret correcting the decision, or will you regret not correcting it sooner? It's such a good thinking time question. If you go— if you future cast, if you go out into the future, 6 months from now, will you regret correcting the decision, or will you regret not correcting it sooner? I think any sort of embarrassment that may result fades pretty fast, but compounding mistakes do not fade fast. And I will tell you this, most teams feel relief when a leader corrects course because they're oftentimes thinking, thank God, I— he sees it too. So here's your action item for the week. I want you to identify one decision right now that you're defending. That one decision that deep down, you know, needs an adjustment. Write it down and then ask yourself, if ego wasn't involved, what would I do? And then this week, if necessary, have the conversation, correct it, because leadership isn't about being right. Leadership is about being responsible. And I think that is part of the No Days Off ethos here. Taking ownership, thinking through your decisions, accepting and apologizing and doing what's right, you know, when you make a bad call, and ultimately building to a bigger and brighter future. That's all I have for you today, the No Days Off Podcast. Thank you so much for listening. And remember, every single day brings a new opportunity to get better. So let's get after it. 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