The Cost of One More Chance: Because You Can’t Run a Business from Hope Island

One of the more common leadership mistakes I have observed throughout my career is not making bad decisions. It is delaying decisions that leaders already know they need to make. In most cases, underperformance is not a surprise. Leaders see it and discuss it; yet months and sometimes years pass before meaningful action is taken. It’s based on the belief that the next quarter will be better, the next project will go smoother, or the next promise will finally be fulfilled.

I sometimes refer to this as living on Hope Island. The organization knows there is a problem, but instead of addressing it, leadership becomes convinced that the next time will somehow produce a different outcome.

Building a business without optimism is nearly impossible. But hope is not a substitute for accountability, and it certainly is not a strategy.

The Cost of Staying

What prompted me to think about this were several situations I have heard about over the last year that share a remarkably similar outcome. Different organizations. Different industries. Different circumstances. Yet the decision-making process followed a very familiar pattern.

In each case, opportunities for improvement had been identified. Alternative approaches had been explored. The need for better performance was not in question. Yet when it came time to make a decision, leadership ultimately chose to stay the course and hope performance improved.

I get it. Replacing a long-standing partner can create disruption, introduce uncertainty, and requires time, energy, and effort. Continuing the existing relationship often feels easier. The reality is that staying has a cost too, and in many cases, that cost exceeds the disruption of making a change.

Years ago, I found myself making a similar mistake. Our organization was working with a web services provider that had been a good partner for many years. The relationship was positive, and the platform had served us well during early stages of growth. The challenge was that our business had evolved faster than their capabilities.

Reporting functionality was limited. New features we needed were not being developed. Integration opportunities were becoming increasingly important, but the platform could not support them.  My team recognized the problem, yet we stayed longer than we should have. Not because the provider was performing poorly, but because they were no longer positioned to help us get where we needed to go.

Looking back, I realized the true cost was not what we were paying. The real cost was the opportunities we were missing. We delayed improvements, postponed efficiencies, and limited our ability to capitalize on new opportunities because we were reluctant to make a difficult change.

That experience taught me an important lesson: sometimes a partner can continue delivering acceptable performance while simultaneously holding an organization back from achieving its full potential.

The reality is that this isn’t just a leadership problem. It’s a human one. Most of us have spent time on Hope Island ourselves. We stay on the same cell phone provider long after a better option exists. We continue using the lawn company that doesn’t do a great job because finding a replacement feels inconvenient. We stick with advisors, contractors and doctors that no longer meet our expectations because the familiarity feels more comfortable than making a change. In both business and life, we often tolerate situations that are merely acceptable because change feels uncertain.

Not Being Served

A friend recently shared a story that reinforced this lesson. For years, he worked with the same insurance broker and never questioned the relationship. Every renewal conversation was positive, coverage appeared adequate and pricing seemed reasonable. There was no obvious reason to look elsewhere.

Eventually, he decided to seek a second opinion. What he discovered was not fraud or misconduct. In fact, the broker had done many things well. The issue was that opportunities to improve coverage had been overlooked, cost-saving options had never been explored, and recommendations that should have been made years earlier were never brought forward.

His observation was simple but powerful. “I wasn’t being defrauded. But I certainly wasn’t being served.” That distinction matters. Many underperforming relationships are not disasters. They are simply relationships where expectations have stopped evolving, accountability has diminished, and performance is no longer being measured against what is possible.

Performance, Not Promises

One of the most dangerous questions leaders ask is: “Should we give them another chance?” A far better question is: “Have they earned another chance?” The distinction is important because promises and performance are not the same thing. Promises create optimism while performance creates confidence.

Exceptional leaders understand that confidence should be earned through measurable action, demonstrated results, and sustained improvement over time. They do not make decisions solely on what a partner says they will do. They evaluate what has actually been done.

The strongest organizations maintain high standards because they understand that accountability protects the interests of everyone involved, including employees, customers, residents, patients, and stakeholders.

Creating a New Standard of Accountability

One lesson I have learned over the years is that accountability should never depend on contract renewal discussions, annual reviews, complaints, or subjective opinions about whether things seem to be going well. Performance should be visible.

That belief has heavily influenced how we have built Phoenix3 Collective and why we invested so heavily in developing a proprietary technology platform focused on complete transparency around the metrics that matter most to our clients. We establish expectations upfront. We define key performance indicators together. We align on what success looks like and provide ongoing visibility into performance against those expectations.

When performance is transparent, accountability becomes part of the relationship rather than a difficult conversation at the end of it. Quite frankly, that is how every business partnership should operate.

The goal is not to wait until someone is asking whether a provider deserves one more chance. The goal is to ensure that everyone knows exactly how performance is tracking long before that question ever needs to be asked. Transparency creates accountability and accountability creates performance. Most importantly, it eliminates a trip to Hope Island in the first place.

Richard B. Schenkel, Founder and CEO of Phoenix3 Collective LLC