Must-Haves: Why the Best Leaders Simplify First
- Alison Nissen
- 7 days ago
- 4 min read
Yes! The coveted role opened, the ask came.
But that yes came at a price.
Have you been there? After the initial excitement wears off, you realize that this “good thing” has quietly begun to replace what matters most with tasks, appointments, and other people’s noise, all of it feels equally urgent.
For me, the price of saying yes showed up as overwhelm, not because I was doing the wrong things, but because I was trying to do too many of the right ones, confusing urgency with importance.
That tension—between what feels urgent and what is essential—is not new. In fact, it is one of the oldest leadership problems we have.
During a recent conversation on The ABOVE CENTER® Podcast, Warner Siebert shared a quote from the Neo-Confucian philosopher Zhu Xi that has become a checkpoint for him:
“Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated.”
He returns to it often because it exposes a familiar human pattern. We overcomplicate decisions. We compare. We absorb pressure and expectations until everything feels important, necessary, and urgent. Over time, clarity gets buried under noise.
Modern leadership almost seems designed to reward complexity. More data. More metrics. More tools. More options.
Yet research consistently shows that too many choices do not lead to better outcomes. In his book The Paradox of Choice: Why More Is Less, psychologist Barry Schwartz argues that while some choice is the key to freedom, too much choice produces anxiety, paralysis, and even regret.1 When leaders feel overwhelmed, it is often not because they lack information, but because they lack clarity.
Warner’s response to the paradox is simple. He filters decisions through a single question: Is this a must-have, or a nice-to-have? Whether he is setting budgets, evaluating marketing campaigns, or thinking about organizational priorities, he deliberately strips decisions down to their core. This discipline, he explained, is what keeps him centered amid constant noise.
During our conversation, the idea of “must-haves” became almost philosophical.
At the most basic level, humans need food, shelter, clothing, and companionship. Everything beyond that requires discernment.
Leadership works the same way. Not every initiative deserves equal attention. Not every opportunity is worth pursuing. ABOVE CENTER® leadership is not about doing more; it is about choosing wisely.
Decision-making, however, is rarely easy. Warner was quick to acknowledge that smart decisions are not purely data-driven, nor are they purely intuitive. The best decisions live at the intersection of both.
Data can tell you whether a strategy is viable, but instinct often tells you whether it is right. In Thinking, Fast and Slow, Nobel Prize–winning psychologist Daniel Kahneman describes this as the tension between fast, intuitive thinking and slow, analytical thinking, both of which are necessary and both of which can fail if relied on exclusively.2
This balance becomes especially critical in hiring. On paper, a candidate may look perfect. The metrics may align. The experience may check every box.
But leaders still have to trust their gut. And the difference often comes down to how well we listen to both data and instinct.
Staying above center as a leader means prioritizing character before competence. For Warner, that looks like people who are respectful, kind, self-motivated, and capable of sustaining effort over time.
Stamina matters. Curiosity matters. Follow-through matters.
Something as simple as a thoughtful follow-up email after an interview signals how a candidate may treat clients, colleagues, and commitments.
Interviews are two-way conversations. The quality of questions a candidate asks can reveal as much as the answers they give.
As co-host Marcy Stoudt observed, the first ninety days of employment have become a decisive fork in the road. In a workplace where long-term loyalty is no longer assumed, new hires are often either laying the groundwork for future success or quietly preparing for their next exit.
Leaders who fail to create clarity, connection, and purpose early on risk losing people before they ever truly arrive.
ABOVE CENTER® leadership is not complicated. It is disciplined. It requires the courage to say no. The humility to reflect. And the wisdom to distinguish between what matters and what merely demands attention.
As Warner reminded us, Zhu Xi’s words endure because they are uncomfortable. If life is simple, then much of our stress is self-created.3
The question, then, is not whether leadership is complex, but whether we are willing to simplify it. What decisions would shift if we focused only on the true must-haves? What clarity might emerge if we let go of everything else?
Notes
Barry Schwartz, The Paradox of Choice: Why More Is Less (New York: HarperCollins, 2004), https://www.harpercollins.com/products/the-paradox-of-choice-barry-schwartz.
Daniel Kahneman, Thinking, Fast and Slow (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2011), https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780374533557/thinkingfastandslow.
The ABOVE CENTER® Podcast, Simplify to Scale – Building Momentum Through Grit, Clarity, and Connection, December 15, 2025, YouTube video, timestamp 00:16:39–00:16:40, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pkp3gz0Z9bY; Spotify audio, https://creators.spotify.com/pod/show/7IyqYMKU9r7tPHZLkEi51F/episode/0Z4sTeKhT8nNjP9vhkfdxv/details.
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About the author: As the co-founder and Chief Storytelling Officer of Revel Coach, a career growth platform, Alison Nissen helps leaders perfect their business pitches and online presence through storytelling. Successful executives use key storytelling points to engage their audience and gain market share because they know good storytelling is the best form of marketing, recruiting, and fundraising. Write Your Book NOW! Mastermind enrolling now.
The Revel Coach™ Blog is provided for educational and informational purposes only and is not mental health, financial, business or legal advice. The information presented here is not intended to diagnose, treat, heal, cure or prevent any medical, mental or emotional condition. The information presented here is not a guarantee that you will obtain any results or earn any money using our content.
