"There are no solutions, only trade-offs."
I was thinking about this recently while assembling an IKEA desk. Do you know that moment when you realise you could follow the instructions exactly… or save 20 minutes by improvising - knowing there’s a 50/50 chance the whole thing collapses? Life and business are a lot like that.
Every day as leaders, we face decisions with trade-offs: speed vs. quality, innovation vs. risk, autonomy vs. alignment. And just like that wobbly IKEA shelf, there’s no perfect outcome. We can either chase perfection and waste time… or make a choice, embrace the trade-offs, and move forward.
Personally, I’ve found that the biggest trade-off we give up willingly is our time. Investing in mentoring, coaching, or helping a team think creatively may cost hours in the short term, but it pays dividends in confidence, courage, and results.
In business, the same principle applies: every bid we pursue, every deal we refine, every trade-off we navigate shapes what we can achieve - even if it’s not 'perfect.'
So next time you’re agonising over the 'right' decision, remember: trade-offs aren’t failures. They’re the real solutions.
PS the quote is from the economist Thomas Sowell. He meant that as a warning to public policy experts tempted by the goal of perfection.