What is the primary role of a leader?
Most people answer with things like inspiring people, leading by example, setting the vision, or communicating clearly.
But what if the real answer is much simpler — and far more important?
In Episode 2 of the First Principles series, Jeff Wells explores the leadership lesson that permanently changed the way he viewed business, leadership, and organizational performance after learning from former Symantec CEO Steve Bennett.
The primary role of a leader is to make great decisions — and teach other people how to make great decisions.
At first, the definition felt overly simple. But over time, Jeff realized this single principle sits underneath nearly every great business outcome — and nearly every organizational failure.
This episode unpacks why leaders make bad decisions, why organizations consistently lose touch with reality as they scale, and why context is one of the most valuable assets in business today.
Through stories from Symantec, lessons influenced by Jack Welch, and a powerful example involving Tesla and Jon McNeill, Jeff explains how critical information becomes distorted as it moves through organizations — and why leaders who fail to capture ground truth often make confident decisions based on incomplete or inaccurate context.
You’ll learn:
• Why decision-making is the foundation of leadership
• Why organizations struggle to preserve real context at scale
• How “telephone game” communication destroys execution
• Why many leaders make bad decisions despite good intentions
• The difference between surface-level information and meaningful context
• Why great leaders intentionally seek ground truth before acting
• The most important question leaders should ask their teams:
“How did you make that decision?”
This episode is for founders, executives, operators, sales leaders, and anyone responsible for driving outcomes through people and decisions.
Because poor leaders hurt people.
Great leaders change lives.
Hosted by Jeff Wells.
Podcast: On the Shoulders of Giants.
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What got your revenue here won’t get it where it needs to go next. On the Shoulders of Giants is the podcast from High Achiever
for founders, executives, revenue leaders, and operators responsible for accelerating growth in complex organizations.
Hosted by Jeff Wells, each episode explores the leadership principles, operating systems, and decision-making frameworks behind scalable, sustainable performance.
We go beyond tactics to help organizations align strategy, execution, and resource allocation through a Revenue Operating System designed for clarity, accountability, and measurable growth.
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