How PRE-mortems drive growth
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Welcome to Partnership Wednesday #117 featuring ideas you can use to build partnerships faster, with less guesswork, and confidently close 6-figure deals.
Got a growth question? Send me an email.
A LESSON TO BUILD ON
This past September, two tech veterans, Google (26 years old) and PayPal (27 years old), joined forces to redefine digital commerce. Despite their maturity, both recognised that innovation now demands collaboration, not competition. By integrating payments, data, and platform reach, they’re building the infrastructure for the next era of online trade.
Leadership lesson: Even established giants must stay curious. Age and scale aren’t barriers to reinvention. Complacency is. The age-old question that you should keep asking is, “Who can help us create what we can’t build alone?”
AN ANSWER TO HELP YOU MOVE FASTER
I have a sinking feeling this project isn’t going to work, and so do others. Is there a way we can surface that feeling so it’s in the open? I was asked this question from the crowd this week. Here’s my answer:
The short answer is yes.
When you have that sense, that it might not work, rest assured, so can your team.
No one will want to point to the risk or assumption that could sink the project.
Most leaders surface them in a post-mortem.
After the budget is blown, the deadlines slip and the damage is done.
By then, it’s too late.
Consider another option and run a pre-mortem.
Instead of asking “Why did this fail?”
Ask “It’s 12 months later. It failed. What went wrong?”
That shift matters.
Because our brains trick us. We discount the future and overvalue today.
Psychologists call it hyperbolic discounting.
A pre-mortem breaks the bias.
It makes the future feel urgent now.
It forces leaders to name the risk before it’s real.
And the payoff is huge:
→ Save money: Failures cost 3–10x more to fix after launch.
→ Save time. Issues surface early when they’re cheapest to solve.
→ Make money. Projects stay resilient and ROI becomes predictable.
Think of it as one hour of pre-mortem saving 100 hours of rework.
Here's the Pre-Mortem Playbook to help your team walk through this process.
It's a 60-minute agenda any leader can run:
1. Assemble the right people
2. Frame the failure
3. Capture risks fast
4. Rank and prioritise
5. Convert to safeguards
6. Monitor relentlessly
Simple. Practical. Insanely valuable.
So don’t ask: “Do we have time for this?”
Ask: “Can we afford not to?”
Here’s an infographic that might help you navigate this topic further.
THIS WEEK’S MOMENT
Could you easily describe what a great partnership looks like?
In this 7-minute episode, you’ll learn:
What high-performing partnerships should look and feel like at 6 months and 2 years
The 9 observable, testable, and time-bound qualities of great partnerships
How to avoid the “logo swap trap” and focus on value that compounds
Get every episode of the Partnership Playbook on your next commute or workout. Subscribe to the show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Youtube!
KNOW PEOPLE WHO FEEL STUCK?
Want to share this issue of Partnership via text, social media or email?
https://philhsc.com/partnership/22-october-2025
Until next Wednesday,
Phil Hayes-St Clair
Executive Coach
When you're ready, there are three ways I can help you:
1. The Partnership Lab A 6-week experience for founders, CEOs, and GTM leaders who are done with slow growth and stalled conversations. Learn to rapidly qualify and prioritise high-value partners, Install a system that turns conversations into contracts and capture outsized returns from partnerships that scale. Apply to join the November cohort today!
2. Join a free masterclass: Each week I pull back the curtain on frameworks, tactics, and real-world partnership strategies you can put into play immediate. Invite your team and bring your questions. This is your time.
3. Leadership Events: From Cochlear and Lifeblood to military leaders, I have shared inspiring stories and practical frameworks and insights that shift how leaders leverage partnerships for growth. Book me to speak at your next conference, offsite, or leadership event.
Looking for something different? Send me an email.
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