Haste is a signal

Of all the reasons we decline a request, haste is the most common. And the most misunderstood.

What usually lies behind it

When someone writes «I need an answer this week», it is rarely because the calendar truly presses. Almost always it is one of three things.

• The decision has not been taken. Urgency stands in for it: if everything moves fast, there is no time to doubt. But a decision that needs speed to hold will not hold.
• Someone is applying pressure. A partner, a buyer, a relative. The haste is not yours: it belongs to someone else and has been passed on.
• Fear arrived before the problem. That is human — and the worst moment to decide anything.

Why that makes us decline

Not out of convenience. Because you cannot work well in that state: the person is not listening, only waiting. And what we do requires listening.

There is also a less comfortable point. A field like ours is full of people who know perfectly well that urgency is the best moment to charge. The more desperate someone is, the easier they are to sell to. We have watched it for decades — and that is exactly why we do not go there.

How to know whether your haste is real

A simple test: what happens if you wait ten days?

If the answer is «a concrete opportunity with a concrete date is lost», the haste is real — and what you probably need is a lawyer or an adviser, not us.

If the answer is «nothing, but I cannot bear it any longer», then it is not the problem that is urgent. It is the state. And that, if it helps, can be discussed without hurry.

What is genuinely urgent

A medical situation. A physical threat. A legal deadline running out. All of those have their professionals and their priority — and none of those priorities is us.

Our terrain begins once those professionals have done their work. Never before.

← All notes