A technology company CEO I know recently told me a story I haven’t been able to stop thinking about.
His company was facing a crisis. Supply chain constraints — driven in large part by the AI-fueled explosion in chip demand — had caused component prices to triple. In some cases, product simply wasn’t available at any price.
The problem was that his company had signed contracts with customers. Fixed prices. Delivery timelines. Penalty clauses for non-delivery. And now the entire basis of those contracts had been invalidated by the market.
Head office issued its missive: go to your customers and force through price increases. The contracts say what they say, but the business needs to protect its margins.
He spent a Friday running his entire team through role-played negotiation scenarios. Confrontational. Uncomfortable. Preparing for the worst. He went home that weekend and felt sick about it. Not because it was hard. Because it was wrong.
Leadership is often the loneliest job in the world…
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