The Weight of Leadership in Business

Lessons learned through making the tough calls no one sees

Introduction

I’ve learned over the past year that success is in the eye of the beholder. The challenges and obstacles my companies face have stretched me as a leader. The weight of leadership shows up when the hard decisions must be made, and as the senior leader I am the one who makes them. In this blog I share practical lessons from real situations at Mission Media Event Production and Nixon and Company, so other founders and project leads can avoid the same hits.

The Lack of Due Diligence Is Costly

Our production team was recently hired for a medium-sized event in Durham, NC on very short notice. Ordinarily, someone on our team conducts a site visit and walkthrough to confirm every provision in our agreements. One critical provision was access to a freight elevator, since the scope included a sizable runway stage and presentation platform. A manager lives near the venue, but due to the timeline I decided to skip the site visit and relied on verbal assurances from venue staff.

Per our contract, our team is not liable to transport equipment by stairs if a freight elevator is unavailable. There was no freight elevator. The staff misunderstood our questions. The entire heavy-duty runway and stage would not fit on any elevator in the building. I faced a tough call: stand by the exclusions for safety and scope integrity or deliver what the client purchased.

I chose to deliver. Our crew, safely and slowly, carried every stage deck to the third-floor ballroom via the grand stairwell. It was slow, tedious, and carefully managed. A verified site visit would have surfaced the elevator constraint early, allowing us to add crew, reconfigure the design, or exclude the stage from the contract before signing. Skipping due diligence was costly.

Trust but Verify

Hiring has been a recurring weak point. Every business I have started began with me as the sole employee, and I trust my ability to wear every hat. Bringing on others, especially first-time collaborators, is where you quickly learn if your selection was right.

On a recent project in Atlanta, GA, I hired an independent contractor who claimed strong A2 audio experience, which was a core requirement. We did not check references to validate that claim. On site it became clear the individual lacked professional audio fundamentals. From powering equipment to routing inputs and outputs, they struggled, which caused delays.

In that moment I could only hold myself accountable. I had not verified that I would be getting the skill set I paid for. Lesson reinforced: fully vet personnel. Confirm claims with references and samples and validate technical skills before critical milestones. Trust, then verify.

Loyalty Clouds Judgment

The last lesson centers on a concert in North Carolina for a returning client who had always paid on time. The contract was airtight, the scope was delivered, and the event was a success. The variable this time was payment. The client did not pay a deposit or retainer before work began. After the event they shared that they needed time to secure funds.

My decision to allow an extension without a written agreement or revised terms was poor judgment. More than 100 days passed, multiple notices were sent, and no payment was received. I referred the matter to a collection’s attorney. I lead a business, and I had to learn quickly that for us to remain transactional and fair to our team, financial requirements must be satisfied. No matter how familiar the relationship is, it is still business. Loyalty cannot cloud leadership judgment.

Conclusion

These are three lessons in leadership that apply to any business situation:

• Take the time to do your due diligence, especially around contracts, site conditions, and scope assumptions.

• Trust your people but also verify. Check references, run background checks where appropriate, confirm skills, and review progress well before key milestones.

• Use sound business judgment even when situations feel familiar. Do not relax standards with loyal clients, employees, or projects.

Do you have leadership lessons from failures or near misses, or additions to these three takeaways? Share them in the comments so we can learn together.

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