On 3 July 1973, David Bowie walked onto the stage at London’s Hammersmith Odeon for the final performance of his Ziggy Stardust tour.

By then, Ziggy Stardust had transformed Bowie into one of the most exciting names in British music.

Then, towards the end of the concert, Bowie made an announcement that stunned his audience.

It was the last show they would ever do.

Many thought he was announcing his retirement from music.

He wasn’t.

He was retiring Ziggy Stardust.

The very character that had brought him extraordinary success.

Think about that decision for a moment.

The audiences were there. The records were selling. The formula was working.

Continuing as Ziggy Stardust appeared to offer an obvious path forward.

Instead, Bowie chose to move on.

Of course, we have the benefit of hindsight.

We know he went on to reinvent himself repeatedly, building an extraordinary career over the following decades.

However, Bowie didn’t know any of that in July 1973.

He couldn’t know whether audiences would follow him, whether his next creative direction would succeed, or whether he might regret abandoning something that had worked so well.

Sometimes the hardest decision isn’t fixing something that’s failing. It’s questioning something that’s working.

And I think that’s a challenge many business founders eventually face.

What brought your business this far isn’t necessarily what will take it where you want to go next.

Recognising that is one thing.

Making the decision to do something about it is quite another.

Busy making decisions. But the right ones?

One of the more interesting things about working with founders is seeing how the nature of their decisions changes as their businesses develop.

In the early years, their willingness to get involved in everything is frequently what keeps the business moving.

But as the business grows, the decisions become more complex, the consequences more significant and the founder’s time increasingly valuable.

Yet it’s remarkably easy to continue operating in exactly the same way.

You spend your week resolving customer issues, approving expenditure, answering questions and dealing with whatever problem has appeared most recently.

By Friday, you’ve made dozens of decisions.

You’ve been busy. You’ve been useful. 

But have you made the decisions that really matter?

Perhaps you’ve been considering whether to increase prices for a major customer.

Perhaps you’ve been discussing a senior hire for months.

Perhaps you know that one of your service lines isn’t generating the return it should.

Those decisions are still sitting there.

Not necessarily because you don’t recognise their importance.

It’s because they’re difficult.

And unlike the operational decisions that fill your day, they rarely come with an obvious answer.

The problem isn’t always that founders make too many decisions. It’s that the important ones can get crowded out by the immediate ones.

Not all decisions deserve the same attention

I think there are three broad categories of decisions in most founder-led businesses.

Decisions the business should be capable of making without you

Routine operational matters, supplier approvals, project scheduling and day-to-day customer issues. These require clear responsibilities and sensible boundaries, not constant founder involvement.

Decisions where your experience and judgement add value

Pricing discussions, resource allocation, customer profitability and recruitment.  You may contribute perspective or challenge assumptions, but that doesn’t necessarily mean you should make the initial recommendation nor the final decision.

Decisions that ultimately define what your business becomes

Whether to pursue growth or prioritise profitability.  Whether to invest significantly in people or infrastructure.  Whether to change a business model that has served you well.

And perhaps most importantly, what kind of business you’re actually trying to build.

These decisions deserve a different level of attention.

You can delegate the analysis, seek advice and invite others to challenge your assumptions.

But you still have to decide what matters most.

Why are the important decisions so easy to postpone?

There’s something reassuring about the feeling of closure in routine operational decisions.

• A customer has a problem. You solve it.
• Someone needs approval. You give it.
• A project is running late. You intervene and fix the delay.

There’s an immediate issue, an identifiable action and usually some sense of resolution. 

Marked closed, then on to the next.

Strategic decisions are different.

They rarely offer the same certainty.

Increasing prices might cost you a customer.  Hiring another senior employee introduces a new fixed cost.  Changing your service could disrupt relationships built over many years.

And sometimes the right decision means acknowledging that something you previously believed in, invested in or personally created is no longer the best way forward.

And that feels uncomfortable.

It’s often easier to deal with the next low risk operational issue than confront a decision where the consequences are uncertain.

And the longer you’ve been successful doing things a particular way, the harder it can be to question whether that way remains appropriate.

The important thing is that continuing should be a conscious decision, not simply what happens because you haven’t made one in the first place.

The hire that might not solve the problem

Imagine a founder running a growing agency.

Revenue is increasing. The team is busy. Customer demand appears healthy.

Everyone feels stretched.

The founder concludes that the business needs another senior employee.

More work means more people, doesn’t it?

Perhaps.

However, the financial and operational information tells a different story.

Gross margins are declining.  Some customers consume far more delivery time than anticipated.  Utilisation is inconsistent and pricing hasn’t kept pace with salary costs.

Suddenly, recruitment isn’t the only option.

The business could increase prices, improve resource allocation, reduce unprofitable work or delay expansion until the existing model performs better.

Each option has financial consequences that can be modelled, but, at the end of all this, the numbers won’t make the decision for you.

The answer will then depend on what the founder is actually trying to achieve.

Is the priority growth, profitability, reducing pressure on the existing team or building something more sustainable without necessarily becoming larger?

Those objectives may lead to very different decisions.

The real decision isn’t whether to hire another person. It’s what problem you’re trying to solve, and what kind of business you’re trying to build.

The financial information helps you understand the choices.

Your judgement determines which choice is right for the business.

The difference between seeing and deciding

Throughout this year, I’ve written extensively about financial visibility, the right metrics and more disciplined decision-making.

However, information alone doesn’t create progress.

You can have excellent management accounts, detailed forecasts, clear KPIs and still avoid the decision that matters most.

It’s why we’ve placed so much emphasis on the decision-making process within The Nuvem9 framework.

SEE → QUESTION → DECIDE → OWN → REVIEW

The crucial transition is moving from understanding a problem to committing to a decision and accepting responsibility for what happens next.

And while some of the best decisions emerge from having your thinking challenged, your assumptions questioned and the consequences properly examined, ultimately, you still need to make a choice.

What is your business waiting for you to decide?

As we move towards the end of the year, many founders are starting to think about their plans for 2027.

• Revenue targets
• Recruitment
• New services
• Investment
• Growth ambitions

However, before adding another list of objectives to next year’s business plan, I think there’s a more useful exercise.

Take twenty minutes and ask yourself three questions.

1. What are the three most important decisions currently sitting on my desk?

Not the most urgent operational issues.

The decisions that could materially change the performance, direction or resilience of the business over the next twelve to twenty-four months.

2. Which of those decisions genuinely require me?

Could someone else make the decision within agreed boundaries?

Would my involvement add value without requiring me to own the final choice?

Or is this something that ultimately requires my judgement and responsibility?

3. What is preventing me from making the decision?

Is there information you genuinely don’t have?

An assumption that needs testing?

A financial consequence you haven’t properly understood?

Or is the difficulty simply that the decision is uncomfortable and the outcome uncertain?

Sometimes the answer is that you need more information.

Sometimes you need someone to challenge your thinking.

And sometimes you already know enough.

You just need to decide.

The decisions that shape what comes next

There will always be another customer question, another operational problem, another approval waiting for your attention.

Those things keep the business running.

But they don’t necessarily determine what your business becomes.

The decisions that are made are often less urgent, less comfortable and much harder to make.

David Bowie couldn’t know what would happen after Ziggy Stardust.

We know how remarkable his subsequent career became, but that wasn’t information available to him when he stepped onto the stage in July 1973.

It’s worth remembering whenever we look back at a successful decision and assume the outcome must have been obvious.

It rarely is when you’re the person who has to make it.

The question isn’t how many decisions you make this week.

It’s whether you’re making the ones that only you can make.