Friday Field Notes: 11/14/2025

Nov 14, 2025

Happy Friday, folks.

Most agencies are in annual planning mode right now, so I wanted to share a few tips I’ve probably shared before.

I’m not going to spend a ton of time in this intro because I know you’re busy, and the end of the year can be chaotic for everybody.

Hopefully, these tips help you set up a strong 2026.

Have a great weekend!

Lessons of the Week:

1. Sometimes the easiest way to make big decisions is to identify all the smaller decisions that need to happen.

Mentally, one of the reasons we struggle with decisions is because of the risk of consequences.

If you can break up big decisions into smaller decisions, they feel like they have less risk, and so you’re able to make them much faster.

It’s also much easier to look at information sets for those smaller decisions than looking at a massive chunk of data.

So if you’re struggling with a big decision, often you just need to break it down, and everything gets a lot smoother.

As a bonus, sometimes making those smaller decisions makes it obvious what you need to do for the bigger decision.

2. Set up decision points, success criteria, and failure criteria.

Not every decision has to be a one-and-done choice.

I’d recommend setting up decision points where you can install safeguards along the way. For example, if a campaign doesn’t hit a certain amount of traction by a certain date, then you shift gears. You can even outline what you’ll do.

If we’re not getting a high enough click-through rate on our ads, then we’ll start an outreach campaign.

These are just if-then statements.

With those, you should understand what is needed for this to be successful and what is needed for it to be a failure. As soon as you see that criteria being hit, you can shift gears or lean into an opportunity.

3. Always ask: “What information would make this decision easy?”

You’re not hindered by a lack of time. You’re hindered by a lack of information.

If you had all the data and information that you needed right now, you could make this decision without hesitation.

Therefore, one of your goals should be to acquire all of the information streams that you need, as fast as possible. That requires you knowing what information you need in order to make a good decision.

I call this your “speed to informed.”

One of your goals as a leader should always be making sure you have a fast speed to informed for any potential decision you have to make.

Because, once you know what information you need, you just have to go get it. Your decisions become significantly easier.