When I first read “Essentialism,” it fundamentally changed how I viewed my role as CEO. I’d been trapped in the busyness cycle – mistaking activity for achievement and involvement for impact.

Here’s how I shifted my leadership approach:

✗ Be in every decision →
✓ Build a decision-making system

I stopped being the bottleneck.

Before Essentialism, I felt I needed to weigh in on every decision. My involvement was a badge of honor – proof I was engaged and leading. In reality, I was creating a system where nothing could move forward without me.

After implementing McKeown’s principles, I built clear decision frameworks and empowered my team to make calls without me. The result? My team made faster, smarter moves, and I reclaimed hours of my week for truly strategic work.

✗ Work harder →
✓ Work on the highest-leverage problems

I cut 60% of low-value tasks.

“Busy” had become my default state – a perpetual cycle of meetings, emails, and putting out fires. But most of this activity wasn’t moving our business forward.

Essentialism taught me to ruthlessly evaluate every task through the lens of leverage: “Is this the highest contribution I can make to our success?” This mindset allowed me to eliminate the majority of my low-value work and focus on the vital few activities that actually drove growth.

We started moving 10x faster.

✗ Say yes to growth →
✓ Say no to distractions

I learned that every yes is a no to something bigger.

Like most founders, I’d say yes to almost any opportunity that promised growth. New partnerships, features, markets – they all seemed like paths to success. But this scattered approach diluted our efforts and slowed our progress.

Essentialism’s most powerful lesson is that saying no isn’t just acceptable – it’s essential. Protecting my time and our company’s focus became my #1 priority, even when saying no felt uncomfortable.