In golf one of the worst things you can do is start second guessing your club selection while standing over the ball.
You pull the eight iron.
Then the conversation in your head starts.
Maybe it should be the seven.
Maybe the wind is stronger than I thought.
Maybe I should just play it safe.
Once that self talk starts, the swing rarely ends well.
Good golfers make their decision before they step over the ball. They read the wind, the lie, the distance, the trouble, and the slope of the green. Then they pick the club and commit to the swing.
Business works the same way.
Seeing the Whole Field
Good golfers do not just look at the pin.
They see the whole hole.
They know where the bunkers are. They know where the water is. They know where the safe miss is. They know where they absolutely cannot hit the ball.
The average golfer sees the flag.
The good golfer sees the whole field.
Over time, business becomes the same way.
If you pay attention long enough, patterns start to appear. Situations start to look familiar. People behave in ways you have seen before.
Your instincts begin recognizing those patterns before your brain fully explains why.
That is what people call trusting your gut.
The Voice That Says “I Told You So”
Some of my biggest blunders happened when I ignored that voice.
You know the one.
Something does not feel right. Something seems a little off. But you move forward anyway because the numbers look fine or someone else is convinced everything is okay.
Sometimes people spend a lot of energy trying to convince you everything is fine.
Sometimes you even let the situation play out.
Not because you believe everything is fine, but because you already know how the story is likely to end.
So you stay quiet, pay attention, and prepare for the worst. I have never liked surprises.
Later that voice shows up again.
And it says the same thing every time.
I told you so.
My Inner Circle
Years ago an employee came into my office to complain that he was not part of my inner circle.
Apparently he felt excluded.
So the next day I bought him a hula hoop.
I handed it to him and told him whenever he felt the need to be part of my inner circle he could just stand in it.
It was the only inner circle I could guarantee him.
By the way, my gut on that situation turned out to be right. My partners thought I was wrong.
History eventually proved otherwise.
The good news is that over time those instincts tend to shape the culture around you.
Today my inner circle works with me, not around me. No hidden agendas. No unnecessary drama. Everyone rows in the same direction and people do their jobs even when no one is looking.
That is when you know the team is right.
The Golf Course Test
Instinct shows up in strange places.
I was playing golf one time with a staff member and a prospective client. Early in the round the prospect mentioned he was a single digit handicap golfer.
By the time we reached the turn he was shooting somewhere in the sixties.
When we stepped aside at the turn I told the staff member something simple.
Do not trust any numbers this prospect gives you.
From what I had just seen, it looked like it might have been the first time he had ever been on a golf course.
That instinct had nothing to do with golf.
It had everything to do with recognizing when something simply does not add up.
The Mr. 4.0 Lesson
One of my favorite examples of learning this lesson happened with my son.
He was always the academic one. Straight A student. Mr. 4.0.
One day, he walked into my office and told me he could handle a proposal for a new engagement. He had a number in mind for the fee.
The prospect was telling him all the right things. There would be more work coming. Their current CPA was retiring soon. This was just the beginning.
I have heard that speech before.
I told him to go ahead and run with it.
When he walked out of my office to work on the proposal with his number, I just sat there, shook my head, and quietly chuckled as he walked down the hall.
His proposal won the job.
At his price.
About a year later, he came back into my office and said we needed to talk about that engagement. The fee was way off.
I smiled and told him something he was not expecting.
I knew the number was wrong the moment he said it. It was probably about twenty percent of what it should have been. I also knew we were likely going to lose six figures on that job.
He asked why I would let that happen.
The answer was simple.
If I had given him my number, the prospect probably would have moved on. And he would have spent the rest of his career believing his number was correct and that the only reason he did not land the job was because of my number.
Instead, he got the job.
And he got the real lesson.
I told him he had just received a third degree in getting played.
A lesson no undergraduate or graduate program teaches.
Then I told him something else.
Over the course of his career I expect him to make that six figure mistake back tenfold.
And I suspect he will.
My Favorite Training Method
Truth be told, that situation is one of my favorite training methods.
When someone is doing a proposal for the first time, I let them put the number together.
They build the proposal. They go through the RFP process. They decide what the number should be.
Unless they come in and ask for help first, I usually do not argue with them the first time.
Sometimes it works out.
Sometimes it does not.
Either way they learn.
And if the mistake costs the firm a little money, I look at it this way.
It is a continuing education course you will not find in anyone’s catalog.
Commit to the Swing
Golf teaches a simple lesson.
Once you have read the wind, studied the hole, picked the club, and stepped over the ball, the only thing left to do is commit to the swing.
The worst swings usually happen when you change your mind halfway through.
Business is not much different.
Trusting your gut is not magic.
It is experience.
It is the accumulation of mistakes, scars, and lessons learned the hard way.
If you pay attention long enough, the patterns reveal themselves.
And when that quiet voice in the back of your mind tells you something is not right, you learn to listen.
Because more often than not, it means you are seeing the whole field.
And when you see the whole field clearly, the most important thing left to do is simple.
Commit to the swing.
