Everything in Life Is a Tradeoff, especially for CEOs

Most things in life are tradeoffs. When you think about it, every meaningful choice, where you live, how you spend your time, the relationships you invest in, the habits you build - requires giving something up to gain something else. You choose the convenience of the city over the space of the countryside. You choose time with your family over another hour of work. You choose the gym instead of the sofa, or the sofa instead of the gym. Life constantly asks a simple, unavoidable question: What are you willing to sacrifice?

Nowhere is this more true than in the life of a CEO. In business, every decision carries both an upside and a downside. You never get all the benefits without any of the costs. There is no perfect option, only a preferred imbalance. In my experience, great CEOs don’t pretend tradeoffs can be avoided. Instead, they design them consciously and most importantly, are prepared to accept the consequences of their decisions.

Here are three examples of CEO tradeoffs that I’ve witnessed:

1. Speed vs. Quality: The First Tradeoff Every High-Velocity Company Faces

Almost every founder encounters this tension early. You can move fast and capture momentum, or you can slow down and build for robustness. Shipping quickly accelerates learning, energises the organisation and shows urgency to customers and investors. But it also risks creating technical debt, instability and a future need for rework. Focusing on quality builds stronger foundations and reduces future costs, yet it risks slowing you down and missing critical timing.

My advice to CEO’s that I coach in this instance is not to find the perfect middle ground but to set the “stage-appropriate bias”. Early-stage companies often need speed above all else. Scaling organisations serving enterprise clients may need to emphasise quality and reliability. What matters most is that the CEO understands the cost of the chosen path, and is prepared to live with it. If choosing speed now means paying down engineering debt later, the CEO must accept that consequence fully and prepare for that eventuality.

2. Talent Density vs. Cost Efficiency: The People Tradeoff

Another deeply consequential dilemma concerns talent. Do you hire the strongest, highest-judgement people you can find, even though they cost more and raise the expectations of the entire company? Or do you hire more conservatively to preserve runway and reduce financial pressure?

As most of you know I’m a huge proponent of running a high talent density company. It increases leverage: decisions improve, execution accelerates and as CEO you spend less time managing underperformance. But the consequence is higher burn and potentially more financial scrutiny from the board. On the other hand, running lean protects runway and lowers financial risk, but it often slows progress and results in a heavier leadership burden.

There is no universal right answer. The only meaningful question is: given the stage the company is in, which upside matters most and which downside can we genuinely live with? A CEO who chooses elite talent must be comfortable with higher burn. A CEO who prioritises frugality must accept slower execution. Leadership means owning both sides of that equation.

3. CEO Focus vs. CEO Accessibility: The Personal Tradeoff

Even a CEO’s personal operating rhythm reflects tradeoffs. You can’t protect deep focus for strategic thinking and simultaneously be an always-available manager. 

Last week, I was working with one of my CEO’s on what I call a time allocation exercise, where we analyse where a CEO spends their time and how they can become more effective in its usage. What stood out to me was that every moment of my CEO’s days were occupied with operational issues - there was zero time for strategic thought. Making time for deep-focus strategic thought leads to better decisions, clearer priorities and stronger long-term direction. But it can make you feel less present to the team. High accessibility boosts approachability and support, but it erodes your ability to think clearly and make high-quality strategic calls.

Again: it’s a tradeoff. You need to be connected to the team and the pulse of the organization, but also need to protect your personal time for deeper strategic thought. Finding the right “stage appropriate” balance is key. You have to recognise and accept tradeoffs, pretending otherwise only creates confusion and burnout.

The CEO Tradeoff Equation

A high-quality decision is one where the upside is truly worth having and the downside is something you can realistically live with. In other words:

Decision Quality = upside worth having / by downside I can handle.

In practice, this means prioritising the option whose upside most directly aligns with the company’s current stage while ensuring that the downside is one you can absorb emotionally, operationally and financially.

The “Consequence Test”

This leads to one of the most powerful mental habits you can develop. Before committing to a decision, ask yourself:

“If the worst-case downside happens, can I live with it?”

If the answer is “Yes”, you are predisposed to proceed. If the answer is “No”, you adjust the decision until you find a version you can live with.

I use this test in my own life. It prevents me from getting stuck in a loop of indecision, it encourages me to move forward, confident I have assessed and done everything needed to protect my downside. In essence I’ve shifted my mindset from prediction to preparation, reducing anxiety and building confidence in my decisions. 

Conclusion

As a CEO as in life, you rarely get everything you want, you only get what you choose to prioritize and what you’re willing to give up in return. Tradeoffs aren’t flaws in the system; they are the system. When you embrace this reality, you stop chasing perfect decisions and start making intentional ones, decisions you can defend, own and live with.

Reflection Questions:

1. When was the last time I avoided a tradeoff because I feared the downside? What could have happened if I had embraced it?

2. Which tradeoffs am I currently making in my company that I’m not fully owning the consequences of?

3. What is the one tradeoff I could make today that would most accelerate progress for my company, even if it comes with a downside I must accept?

Photo by Tom Barrett on Unsplash