Suffocating Excuses
EP11: Suffocating Excuses
Leadership in 5 | Execution Is Not a Pep Talk
When excuses stack up—what are they hiding?
This episode explores how well-meaning leaders accidentally give or accept excuses, and how that slowly suffocates execution, clarity, and trust.
We’re not talking about blaming your team—or yourself.
We’re talking about the quiet ways high performers explain around the real issue… until the system starts gasping for air.
If you're a founder or executive who’s trying to lead with grace but keep ending up with confusion, misalignment, or underperformance—this episode is for you.
We’ll unpack:
- Why excuses don’t always sound like excuses — they sound like compassion
- How giving or accepting excuses hides real operational issues
- The difference between empathy and enabling
- Why protecting the dysfunction ends up punishing your best people
- A call to recalibrate clarity instead of padding performance
Reflection Questions (from the episode):
- What excuses have you made on behalf of your team?
- Where are you tolerating dysfunction instead of addressing it?
- What patterns are you explaining instead of solving?
- What’s one hard truth you need to stop excusing?
Bonus Reflection Questions (for deeper insight):
- What would happen if you addressed the issue without softening it?
- Where has grace drifted into avoidance?
- Are you protecting your people—or protecting the discomfort?
- How might the system breathe differently if the excuses were removed?
Links and Resources:
The right question changes everything. Grab the free Next Question Guide → NextQuestionGuide.com
Connect with James on LinkedIn → linkedin.com/in/jamesmayhew
Want to learn more or work together? → JamesMayhew.com
Transcript
Let me pick up where we left off last time, discussing how your team wants to help, wants to contribute, but for various reasons, they’re unsure how.
So if you haven’t listened to episode 10 yet, go back and hit that.
I want to pick back up where we were:
Your team wants to help.
Most people aren’t lazy.
They’re not checked out.
They’re not trying to underperform.
But they are trying to survive…
…and when systems start to break, it gets easier and easier to reach for an excuse.
And here’s the part that’s hard to admit:
It’s not just your team giving excuses.
You might be making them too.
You might be accepting them.
You might be explaining around them.
You might even be padding the real issue with empathy that feels kind—but leaves the problem untouched.
I’m James Mayhew—and this is Leadership in 5.
Before we go any further, I want to say something clearly:
What I’m about to share isn’t criticism. It’s care.
It’s perspective.
It’s a way forward if you’re willing to be honest about what’s actually happening inside your company right now.
We tell ourselves we’re just being gracious.
That we’re protecting the team.
That we’re trying to lead with compassion.
But over time, those good intentions start to suffocate execution.
They hide the truth.
They delay the hard conversation.
They keep the real problem just out of reach.
Let me give you a few examples:
You say,
“She’s just overwhelmed right now.”
Okay, but if that’s true, why haven’t we adjusted the workload or restructured the role?
You think,
“He’s going through a lot at home.”
And yes, that matters. But if we’re constantly planning around it, month after month, have we put him in a seat that actually works for him and the team?
You tell yourself,
“I haven’t had time to address that yet.”
But that means you’ve chosen to tolerate the impact. Whether you meant to or not.
See, excuses don’t always sound like excuses.
They sound like compassion.
Or strategy.
Or “just giving it some time.”
But here’s what I’ve learned the hard way:
Excuses — whether given or accepted — don’t protect your people.
They protect the dysfunction.
And when you protect the dysfunction, you ask everyone else to work around it.
To carry the weight. To pick up the slack.
Eventually, it’s not just one person underperforming.
It’s the whole system holding its breath.
Waiting for something to change.
Suffocating under silence.
So here’s the question I want you to wrestle with today:
What excuse are you still holding onto—because it’s easier than addressing the real issue?
Let that sit with you.
Because the moment you stop giving and accepting excuses is the moment the system can breathe again.
And that’s worth thinking about today.
