Redwall Leadership Principle: Learning to say no is an essential quality of any great leader or organization.

“The difference between successful people and really successful people is that really successful people say no to almost everything.”

-Warren Buffet

Success comes through preparation, hard work and seizing the initiative when opportunity presents itself. But, great success comes from saying no.  The truly transcendent leaders and organizations master the art and skill of saying no. Successful people have many of the same qualities and understandings in common. But, what is uncommon is understanding when to say no and then, actually, saying no.

Yes creates a series of new commitments: use it sparingly.

Leaders and organizations must keep their word, so when you say yes, you are committing the integrity of yourself or your organization into a direction. Yes always has unseen costs. Until you can calculate and count the cost of your yes, don’t give it. Reserve yes for things that fall in line with where you are already going. Otherwise, every yes that you give has the potential to pull you off course quickly. This is why organizations and leaders drift, because they are too good at saying yes and too poor at saying no.

Saying no is the key to staying focused.

When you say yes and you are responsible, you have immediately diverted part of your energy, resources and time into whatever else you have said yes to. Yes is a commitment. No is a clarifier. There is no focus without saying no. Saying yes to is the quickest way to lose sight of your target, cloud your vision or create complexity. No draws a line and holds to it. No sets boundaries and identifies targets.

Yes is the death of simplicity and the birth of complexity.

No is the greatest simplifier that a leader or an organization can have. Because, yes engages you to whatever you have just given permission to. When a leader or an organization gives permission to an idea or an initiative, energy, resources and personal platforms are created. People that have been told yes will fight to keep what they now believe is theirs. This is why there is so much friction in organizations that say yes all the time. When you say yes all the time you are devaluing the power of yes and neutralizing no. Everyone then begins to fight for their yes.

No kills yes.

No is final. Yes is continual. Many things (not people) need to die in organizations. No cuts the life off of unnecessary, wasteful and pet projects. No keeps people from falling in love with their ideas. Leaders and organizations are in desperate need of limits. No is the ultimate limit. Saying yes is often a sign of (a) I don’t know or (b) I’m too lazy to do the work of discovery and find out. Both of these you should instantly say no to.

A sign of maturity is in the ability to say no.

Immature leaders and immature organizations use no very sparingly and yes very liberally. This causes all sorts of problems: poor stewardship being at the top of the list. Maturity is often evidenced through discipline and knowing when to say no and using it is a sign of great discipline. Great success only comes through great discipline. And no is the key to discipline.

No says, “We can’t do everything–and we won’t even try.” 

No means longevity over popularity.

No makes you unpopular. But, greatness is not discovered or maintained through a popularity contest. Leaders and organizations are unwilling to say no because they are unwilling to be unpopular. Popularity is never a measure of greatness. Longevity is a much greater measure of great success. Popularity is present influence or power. Longevity is staying influence or power. Greatness is always more of a measure of longevity than popularity.

Jesus sure didn’t have a lot of popularity, but he sure has a lot of longevity. Jesus is the ultimate example of staying focused by saying no. He would perform miracles and then tell people, “Tell no one.” He knew his mission. He knew where he was going and where he was not. Knowing both your mission and your limits gives you ultimate freedom inside the parameters of those limits. This is where innovation is discovered, stewardship is perfected and organization’s strengthened.

Let what you say be simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’

Matthew 5:37

(c) Alex Vann