Zero Strikes You're Out

Everybody knows the rule. Three strikes and you're out.

Some hard-asses run one strike!

One screwup, you're done.

I run ZERO strikes.

Best rule I ever stole, and I lifted it straight from an episode of Billions.

The scene:

Axe flies a crew of his buddies out to a concert on his dime. One of them overhears a trade he was never supposed to hear, gets greedy, and leverages himself to the eyeballs chasing it. It goes sideways fast, the guy's underwater and panicking, so he begs Axe to bail him out. Axe does it. No lecture, no hesitation. Then the friend wakes up the next morning in the hotel suite and everybody's gone. No note. No goodbye. No "we need to talk." Just gone.

Clean cut. No drama. Axe learned everything he needed to know about the guy in one move, and he was done.

That scene rewired how I deal with (some) people.

When somebody shows you who they are, believe them

I've done business with a lot of people over the years since leaving the government.

Some high-profile, some nobodies.

Small deals, handshake stuff, a contract here and there.

Every so often, somewhere in the middle of it, the mask slips.

The unhinged email at 2am.

The meltdown over a number that doesn't matter. The moment they show you, clear as day, that they are absolutely, certifiably fuckin nuts.

Ten years ago I'd have tried to fix it. Hop on a call. Explain my side. Win the argument. Prove I was right!

What a waste of time!

You cannot reason somebody out of crazy. You can't logic them, charm them, or out-email them. Crazy doesn't want a resolution.

So I stopped giving it to them.

Now?

Whatever they're asking for, I just give it to them. The contract term. The extra point. The bizarre demand.

Fine. Done. Yours.

And then I never speak to them again. Ever. I write them out of my life like they never existed.

I've walked away from businesses, customers, partnerships, whatever.

No blowup. No speech about why they're wrong. No final word. I don't need the last word. Get them gone as soon as possible, and be done with them.

Instead…

Invest cycles in the people who are smart and cool.

I’ve worked with about a half a dozen people for almost 9 years… pretty much since the day I stepped out of the government. You’ve heard their names many times in these pages!

Others I’ve worked with for 3/4/5 years, and we are still going very strong - I expect to work with them for as long as they’ll have me.

These are the relationships to invest in!

Being right is expensive. Peace is cheap.

People get this exactly backwards.

They'll torch a week of sleep fighting to win a point worth ten grand.

All to be RIGHT.

Give up the point. It costs you less than the fight does. The juice is never worth the squeeze with these people. Lawsuits, dramatic emails, whatever. Just write it all off and move on.

Best part?

You stop feeding the drama and the drama starves. No oxygen, no fire. They're left swinging at air, because you already walked out of the building.

So that's the whole rule. Zero strikes.

The first time someone shows you they're nuts, believe them. Give them what they want. Cut clean. Walk out of the suite while they're still asleep.

Then put your head down and get back to the real work.

There's always a next thing, and the not crazy people to invest in… It's always better than the fight you just skipped.

Yallah Habibi,

Jon