In a recent LinkedIn post, Nick Bradley dives deep into the pervasive issue of ‘busyness’ within businesses, arguing that it often masks a lack of strategic clarity and can be the most expensive, albeit hidden, cost. Bradley, a consultant focused on business performance, shared his observations from a private equity-backed company where he encountered a staggering thirty-six active initiatives.
He points out the critical distinction between being busy and being strategic, highlighting a common organizational pitfall. As Bradley notes:
“Ask anyone in the building what the strategy was. You’d get thirty-six different answers. That’s not a strategy. That’s organised chaos with a budget.”
The Illusion of Progress: When Busyness Masks Indecision
Bradley recounts his immediate action upon joining the PE-backed firm: drastically cutting down the number of active initiatives. This move, he explains, was met with initial panic from the executive team who deemed all projects important. However, Bradley emphasizes that ‘important’ and ‘strategic’ are not interchangeable.
He successfully narrowed the focus to six key outcomes, setting a clear target for the next two quarters. These prioritized outcomes included revenue growth in a target segment, improved enterprise contract conversion rates, reducing churn below 5%, achieving product-market fit in one vertical, enhancing CAC efficiency, and developing a leadership bench. By halting or moving all other initiatives to maintenance mode, the company aimed for concentrated effort.
Compounding Effort: The Real Driver of Growth
The results, according to Bradley’s post, were significant. Within 18 months, EBITDA doubled from $4 million to $8 million. This substantial increase, he stresses, was not due to the team working harder, as they were already operating under intense pressure. Instead, the growth stemmed from redirecting their efforts from a multitude of seemingly urgent tasks to a select few that truly mattered and offered compounding returns.
Bradley identifies a core misunderstanding among founders and leaders: the tendency to create a ‘priority problem’ for their teams by overwhelming them with too many initiatives. He argues:
“Every initiative you add tells your team two things: This matters. And so does everything else. When everything matters, nothing does.”
Identifying the ‘Invoice’ of Indecision
The author posits that businesses that achieve rapid scaling are not those that do more, but those that execute fewer tasks with exceptional precision. He offers a simple diagnostic for leaders:
The Quick Test for Strategic Clarity
Bradley challenges businesses to count their active initiatives. If the number exceeds ten, he suggests, the team is likely not underperforming but rather ‘drowning in your indecision.’ This state, he warns, means the ‘invoice’ for this lack of clarity is already being generated, often recognized by potential investors like private equity firms before internal leadership fully grasps the issue.
He further elaborates on what PE firms look for, stating:
“PE will stress-test Pipeline, Process, and Profit before they write a check.”
Bradley concludes by urging leaders to assess their business’s core pillars – Pipeline, Process, and Profit – to ensure they are not only focused but also strategically positioned for future growth and potential investment.
📝 About This Content
This article is based on insights shared by Nick Bradley on LinkedIn.
📅 Originally posted on March 5, 2026 | View original post on LinkedIn →