Bring me decisions, not problems

Ask for decisions, and check what your wiring is inviting

"Bring me solutions, not problems" sounds efficient and backfires, because it teaches people to hide a problem until they have solved it, so you hear about it late. Ask for decisions instead: two real options, the cost and timeline of each, and a recommendation. Then look at your own wiring, because most founders are the reason problems keep flowing up to them.

The first half of that is a rule you can give your team this week. The second half is harder, and it is where the rule usually fails.

A problem is a question, a decision is a recommendation

A problem sounds like this: "The supplier missed the delivery. What do you want to do?"

A decision sounds like this: "The supplier missed the delivery. We can pay for express freight from the backup supplier, which costs more and lands Thursday. Or we wait for the reschedule, which is free and lands the following Tuesday. I would pay for express because the client launch is Friday. Do you agree?"

Same person, same problem. The first makes you do the thinking. The second asks for about five seconds of approval. Multiply that by twenty requests a week and you can see where your afternoons went.

What makes a real decision

• Two or more real options. Not one option and a strawman. Alternatives someone actually weighed.
• The cost and timeline of each. Money and time. Naming both turns a wish into something you can choose between.
• A recommendation. The person closest to the problem says what they would pick and why. You can overrule it. But no view means they have not finished the thinking.

This beats "bring me solutions" because it lets people raise a problem early. They do not need to have solved it. They need to have thought about it.

Problems flow uphill because you answer them

Problems flow uphill by default. Every time someone hands you a bare problem and you solve it, you teach them that handing it to you works. It is faster for them, it feels helpful for you, and it quietly makes you the only person in the company who thinks.

That is why the habit does not change when you announce a new rule. It changes when you stop rewarding the old one. And whether you can stop depends a lot on how you are wired. We go deeper on that pattern in why everything runs through you.

How your wiring invites the problems

Most founders do not notice they are pulling problems toward themselves. The pull comes from traits that also make them good at their job.

• A strong D in DISC. DISC is a framework for self-reflection rather than a validated measure. A high D describes someone who decides fast and likes control. You answer quickly, so asking you is quicker than thinking. Your team is being rational.
• High openness. This Big Five trait (validated) includes curiosity and a love of ideas. Problems are the interesting part of the job for you. Sending one back feels like giving away the fun.
• High agreeableness. You want to help, and asking "what do you think we should do?" can feel like withholding. So you answer, and the person feels supported and learns nothing.
• High conscientiousness. You want it done right. Solving it yourself guarantees that, for this one problem. It also guarantees the next one comes to you.
• Low neuroticism. You are the calm one in a crisis, so crises find you. Being unflappable is useful. It also makes you the default place for every urgent thing to land.

None of these is a flaw to fix. Each one is a strength with a side effect. The move is to notice the side effect in the moment, when someone walks in with a bare problem and your wiring is already reaching for the answer.

How to install the habit

1. Say the rule out loud. Tell people plainly: bring me at least two options, the cost and time of each, and what you would do. Most people have never been told this is the standard.
2. Send the bare problem back. When someone brings you a naked problem, do not solve it. Ask for the options. It is slower once and faster every time after.
3. Notice the first good one. When someone brings you a real decision, say so out loud. Behavior that gets noticed gets repeated.
4. Approve fast. If a good decision sits in your inbox for three days, people learn that the format does not help and go back to bringing you problems.
5. Hand over the category. Once someone has brought you the same kind of decision three times and been right, stop approving it. Make it theirs, then run the 30-day override check to make sure you did not take it back.

The last step is the one that changes the business. Decisions are how you find out who is ready to own something.

Do it upward too

This is also how you should show up to your board, your investors, or an advisor. Bring the decision, not the mess. It is the fastest way to get taken seriously by people more senior than you, and it is the same muscle you are asking your team to build.

We did not invent this framing. The fuller operator playbook is on Advisor Avi, including how it fits into building a real second-in-command.

Know which way you pull

A rule handed to a team only works if the founder stops rewarding the old habit, and that depends on knowing your own pull. Founder OS names it. Its "How to work with you" section is a plain manual you can hand your team, including how to bring you a problem. Its "How you lead" section covers your decision-making style and the blind spot to watch. And its "Why everything runs through you" section names the specific traits that keep the thinking landing on your desk.

Founder OS is $9, one-time, and takes about an hour. Get your Founder OS and find out what your team is responding to.