Just before Christmas, I was on a call with a CEO who owns and runs a manufacturing company. About halfway through our conversation, he said something that made me pause.
“Traci, I think I have a big heart, but I’m not terribly empathetic. I don’t know if those two things can be true.”
As we kept talking, he said it again, but a little differently this time: “I suspect they probably polish their views for me.”
OK, I paused the first time, but I felt what he was saying the second time. There was a loneliness in his words. The awareness that something’s off, but not quite being able to name it.
He’s spending the next 90 days with a consultant streamlining production processes. Lean manufacturing training. The goal is 40% more output in 12 months without adding headcount. Good goal. Clear metrics. The kind of optimization everybody’s doing especially at the start of a New Year.
When I asked him what his senior leaders actually believe about that goal—not what they say in meetings, what they really believe—he went quiet for a moment.
“Only surface level. Probably not to a great confidence level or depth.”
So, have you spent January planning how to do more with less? More efficiency, more automation, more strategic initiatives to navigate the economic uncertainty. Are you working harder than ever? Is your team waiting for your decisions? Do the tasks you delegate end up back on your desk?
February will bring more “let’s optimize“ conversations. March means refining the Q1 strategy, which is already showing cracks. By April, you’ll still be the bottleneck… feeling the weight on your shoulders. Just more tired.
Are you open to another perspective?
The Strategy That Got You Here Might Be the Prison You’re Living In
New research shows 49% of business leaders cite economic uncertainty as their top concern for 2026. Everyone’s scrambling to optimize their way through it. Cut costs here, streamline operations there, do more with less.
Here’s something that the research doesn’t capture:
Optimization is a 2X strategy in a world that demands 10X thinking.
When you optimize, you’re making yesterday’s solution work harder, better, and maybe even faster. You’re taking what exists and squeezing more out of it. That worked when markets were predictable, when your team was smaller, and you could be involved in everything.
The environment shifted. But your approach didn’t.
This is The Optimization Trap. Every strength optimized for one context becomes a limitation in the next. What got you to $5M constrains you at $15M. The decision-making speed that built your company becomes the bottleneck that limits it.
You’re not failing. You’re trying to transform (improve what exists) when what you actually need is to transcend (create what should be).
When the Smart Money Isn’t Smart Anymore
I was consulting on a $600M construction mega-project. The kind of high-profile work that opens doors and builds reputations. I had plans in place to grow that part of my business, leveraging the visibility and credibility. The pathway to more lucrative contracts was right there.
The next engagement was already being discussed. More money, more visibility, more of everything that’s supposed to matter.
And I could feel my stomach tighten every time the conversation came up.
That tightening wasn’t a sign of self-doubt or lack of self-confidence. It wasn’t a sign of fear or anxiety. It was something much deeper than that. It was a sign that it wasn’t aligned with my future self. Not just that it wasn’t aligned with what I wanted to do, but more importantly, it wasn’t aligned with who I wanted to be.
When I looked into the future—not next quarter, but three years out—I didn’t see my company or me enjoying that work. No matter how profitable it could be. My Current-Self was screaming, “Optimize this, you’re leaving money on the table!” My Future-Self was whispering, “This isn’t the business you’re meant to build.”
I strategically eliminated the contract. Walked away from the momentum, the pipeline, the whole thing. Not because it was failing. Because it was succeeding at building something I didn’t want.
I call that transcendational thinking. Not improving what exists (transformational). Creating what should be.
The Question That Changes Everything
The leaders who will thrive in 2026’s uncertainty aren’t the ones with the most sophisticated optimization strategies. They’re the ones who stopped long enough to ask: What if the strategy that got me here is exactly what’s keeping me stuck?
- What in your business looks like success but feels like a prison?
- What needs to be simplified – not more sophisticated?
- What are you optimizing that should actually be eliminated?
- What’s the gap between what you say you value and what you’re actually accepting?
You can’t optimize your way out of a dependency factory. You have to architect a capability engine from scratch. You can’t transform into your future. You have to transcend your present.
The question isn’t “How do I make this better?”
The question is “Does this need to exist at all?”
What would you eliminate if you were making decisions from your Future-Self instead of defending what your Past-Self built?
If you’d like to try this approach and want more information, reach out and connect with me. You may be surprised at how just a tiny shift in your thinking can make a world of difference in your path.
