It’s easy to get wrapped up in thinking, Oh, we can do that! 

Can is a strong word, but it frequently gets interchanged with could, and that’s an alarm. If you hear the word can, think about how the word is intended.

If it’s meaning determination and will, then you’re probably good-to-go…if you’ve thought through the next piece…

If the meaning remains unchanged when you replace can with could, then you need to train yourself to see red flags and hear blaring alarms because that means the strategy of the work hasn’t formed. And, if there is no strategy, then your work or intervention is aimless.

Great leaders and strong teams can do a lot of things because they are experts and efficient. They can waste their valuable assets – time, people, money – because of that, too, though. Before you figure out the what and the how, determine the why. It will confirm or refute if you should actually do the something.

Just because you can do something, doesn’t mean you should.