Before You Greenlight That Next Project, Ask These 3 Questions

You value the truth, facts, and data. So why do so many businesses still operate in a fog of guesses, assumptions, and hopeful extrapolations? It’s a shaky ground on which to build strategy. 

I don’t believe most business leaders sidestep the truth on purpose. It’s just that getting to the hard facts is time-consuming, expensive, and often doesn’t reflect the story they want to believe. That’s not deception. That’s business as usual, and it’s a problem for sustainable growth. Even the best-intentioned plans fall apart when they’re built on wishful thinking dressed up as facts. As a leader, your job isn’t just to tell the truth. It’s to know when you’re working with facts and when you’re not. 

Beliefs versus facts 

Too often, people confuse beliefs with knowledge. They build business cases on what they think customers want, what they assume budgets will allow, and what they hope partners will agree to. They take a few data points and fill in the gaps with confidence, enthusiasm, and narrative. I’ve done it myself. 

Early in my career, I was part of a team that pursued a large enterprise client we were convinced needed our solution. We had a few signals: a conversation at a trade show, a mention in an article, maybe a half-remembered comment from a contact. However, we had nothing direct—no clear articulation of pain, no confirmed budget, and no real proof of interest. 

Still, we believed our solution was a great fit. We believed we could help. So, we charged ahead, pouring hours into slide decks, product customization, and internal meetings. We prepared our pitch presentation for the close. When the client passed, we were stunned. How could they say no when we had worked so hard? 

Looking back, the answer is obvious: We were selling into a fantasy. We never actually confirmed what they wanted, needed, or were willing to pay for. We skipped the uncomfortable work of getting to the truth. 

A common decision-making strategy error 

That kind of mistake isn’t rare. It’s everywhere. Teams make decisions every day based on a mix of facts, stories, assumptions, and hopes without separating the pieces or naming the difference. When the plan collapses, it’s easy to blame the market, the competition, or the customer.  

However, in the example above, we didn’t fail because of one bad decision. We failed because we didn’t challenge our assumptions. We decided based on bad input. The real risk isn’t just failing. It’s spending enormous energy pursuing something that never had a shot and never learning the lesson about why it didn’t work. 

Interrogating your way of thinking 

So, what’s the fix? It starts with discipline. You must train yourself and your team to interrogate your thinking. You must ask yourselves: What do we actually know? What are we assuming, and what are we hoping for? 

This doesn’t mean slowing everything down or demanding perfect certainty. Business moves fast, and sometimes you need to act before all the data is in. However, there’s a world of difference between acting fast with eyes open and plowing ahead without saying out loud what you’re missing or assuming. 

A high-functioning culture of truth knows how to navigate that difference. It doesn’t punish uncertainty. Instead, it names it. It teaches people to distinguish between fact and inference, between evidence and guesswork. 

Also, it empowers leaders to say things like:

“We don’t know this part yet. Here’s what we’re assuming.”

“We have some indicators, but let’s validate them before we commit resources.” 

“We’re betting on this based on partial information. Let’s set a check-in point to confirm we’re right.” 

A truth-telling strategy 

Clarity doesn’t mean waiting. It means being transparent about what’s known, what’s guessed, and where the risks live. This is especially important in the age of fast decks, faster decisions, and AI-enhanced data storytelling. 

Teams can now build incredibly convincing narratives in hours. However, a strong story doesn’t make something true. It just makes it believable. That’s why the best leaders constantly push for understanding, not just persuasion. They slow down just enough to ask the right questions. They reward people not for being right, but for being clear about what they do and don’t know—and that clarity pays off. 

A shift from ambiguity to transparency  

Studies from the American Psychological Association and Gallup show that organizations with higher transparency and truth-telling practices outperform those that operate in ambiguity. Teams are more engaged, decisions are faster, and trust goes up when people don’t feel like they’re being sold a story. If this sounds familiar, how might you shift your culture? 

Start by auditing your thoughts. Pick one project or decision in motion and ask: 

• What parts of this are proven or validated? 
• What parts are assumptions, inferences, or hopes? 
• Where are we most likely to be wrong? 
• What’s one small step we could take to get more truth before going further? 

This habit of truth-checking your input won’t slow you down. It’ll actually make you faster in the long run. Because nothing kills momentum like chasing the wrong thing for too long, only to find out it was never real.

Truth isn’t just a leadership value. It’s a performance strategy. Get clear, separate facts from fiction, and make sure your next move is built on something solid.