"The best deals are often the ones that don't close."
Brian J. Esposito said this on a podcast recently, and it landed hard.
Not because it was new. Because I've lived it repeatedly and never articulated it this clearly.
You know the pattern. Deep in negotiations. Terms feel forced. You're mentally restructuring your operations to accommodate their requirements. The numbers work on paper, but your system knows better.
Then it collapses.
Six months later, you see it. That deal would have cost you 18 months of misalignment, endless scope adjustments, and burned capacity on work that doesn't compound.
The deals that don't close protect you from:
**Resource misallocation.** Your time, your team's focus, your operational bandwidth. All finite. A misaligned deal doesn't just cost revenue. It costs capacity you can't recover.
**Strategic drift.** Every partnership pulls you in a direction. Bad ones pull you toward work that doesn't build what you're actually manifesting. You end up serving someone else's vision instead of your own.
**Unnecessary friction.** Misaligned clients drain energy. Not just in lost dollars or wasted hours, but in the cognitive load of managing tension that shouldn't exist.
The challenge is recognizing this in the moment.
You need the revenue. The opportunity appears solid. The friction feels like something to solve, not a signal to respect.
But here's what Brian captured: a deal requiring you to compromise your operating principles, your systems, or your integrity isn't opportunity. It's liability wearing an attractive mask.
I've structured my work around this now. If a partnership demands I operate outside my principles, outside my systems, outside what I know compounds value, I don't push harder. I step back.
Not because I can afford selectivity. Because I can't afford the alternative.
Your capacity is your most valuable asset. Protect it the way you protect capital.
The best deals align so cleanly you barely negotiate. The client sees what you see. Terms emerge naturally. The work creates momentum, not resistance.
And yes, sometimes the best deals are the ones that don't close. They keep you available for partnerships that actually matter.
Thanks for the language, @Brian J. Esposito. I've operated on this principle without words for it. Now I can name it.
What's a deal you walked away from that proved to be the right decision?
#BusinessStrategy #OperationalExcellence #SystemsThinking
Citations:
[1] Strategic Stabilization Intensive - BPEF Playbook.txt https://ppl-ai-file-upload.s3.amazonaws.com/web/direct-files/collection_2aea88d2-d85a-4d51-ba83-6afd6aecfd15/217ad704-a4fc-4bcb-a83b-26a54276d1f7/Strategic-Stabilization-Intensive-BPEF-Playbook.txt
[2] Strategic Partner Seat - BPEF Playbook.txt https://ppl-ai-file-upload.s3.amazonaws.com/web/direct-files/collection_2aea88d2-d85a-4d51-ba83-6afd6aecfd15/d3ae6699-504a-4dc4-9926-2c7239fa1b34/Strategic-Partner-Seat-BPEF-Playbook.txt
[5] Operational Truth Audit — BPEF Playbook.txt https://ppl-ai-file-upload.s3.amazonaws.com/web/direct-files/collection_2aea88d2-d85a-4d51-ba83-6afd6aecfd15/9290cbe3-9b9c-4454-94c0-1c1c3b1c6519/Operational-Truth-Audit-BPEF-Playbook.txt
[7] Buenatura Project Execution Framework.txt https://ppl-ai-file-upload.s3.amazonaws.com/web/direct-files/collection_2aea88d2-d85a-4d51-ba83-6afd6aecfd15/2a85b069-715b-46b9-974a-d5b0c13c5bd4/Buenatura-Project-Execution-Framework.txt
[8] FATE Framework Application Guide.md https://ppl-ai-file-upload.s3.amazonaws.com/web/direct-files/collection_2aea88d2-d85a-4d51-ba83-6afd6aecfd15/aae632af-8a4b-499e-a7f7-3ef488cda1ca/FATE-Framework-Application-Guide.md