There was a Puma ad that said basically the same thing some time ago. What do I mean when I refer to “half measures”? Our society is prone to taking action, regardless of whether the action actually makes sense or otherwise. Regardless of what the reasons for the actions might be, besides the cop-out one of simply wanting to be seen to be doing something. We either tend to fail to see that waiting for the right conditions to be engineered by you is also an action, or we swing to the other side, do nothing, and quote sanctimoniously to ourselves, “This too shall pass.” “Half measures” are mostly actions stemming from the desire to be seen to be doing something, to be seen as being decisive so as to avoid being the target of the endemically derisive.

Stop it. The time to stop taking half measures was yesterday. One way you can get to being more decisive and making better decisions is to take the concept of “compromise” out of your vocabulary. “Compromise” is satisfying all parties by offering half measures, or worse than half measures, to all involved in resolving a dispute, conflict or trying to make the best of a situation. Throw that word out! Use “collaboration” instead, and work towards optimal solutions. Most rational people have similar goals in life, so there will be a certain level of synergy in that direction.

No measures are actually better than half measures because then the illusion that something positive is being done is totally removed. It’s better to be aggressively acquired by another business entity, which might then make better use of the resources you’ve been wasting. Better to have to wind up the business and set your people free to be gainfully employed elsewhere. Enough pussyfooting around. Go full tilt!