October 1962.

A room in Washington.

A few men in suits.

Coffee.

Cigarettes.

Maps of Cuba.

What can go wrong?

Welcome to the Cuban Missile Crisis.

With the permission of any meeting between Trump with his advisors, the most dangerous meeting in modern history.

The problem?

The Soviets had possibly placed nuclear missiles in Cuba.

13 days to decide.

Simple, right?

Destroy the sites.

Show strength.

Win.

That’s what half the room wanted.

The other half?

“Let’s not start World War III on a Tuesday morning… I just signed a mortgage”

Well. Now, the interesting part.

Everyone in that room was smart.

Harvard.

Military.

Politics… yes, you know, in those times (some) politicians were smart…

And yet…

They were about to make one of the worst decisions in human history.

Let me explain…

The reason?

Because of something you see every day in important meetings… and not just in PPPs:

Ego + incomplete information + time pressure = disaster.

You know that formula…

Let me translate the room for you:

The generals

“We have a plan. Let’s execute.”

The politicians

“What does this look like publicly?”

The advisors

“Technically… it depends…” (never try making an advisors deciding anything)

The quiet guy…

…actually thinking

Sound familiar?

Options on the table:

Airstrike

Full invasion

Do nothing

Naval blockade (the weird middle ground)

Now…

Guess which one almost everyone pushed?

The aggressive one.

Of course!

Why?

Because it felt decisive.

Clean.

Strong.

Putting a claim is a medal in every chest, right?

Well… Reality?

It would have triggered nuclear retaliation.

Game over.

Like a spurious claim.

Now, history.

The outcome didn’t come from brilliance.

It came from:

Slowing down the decision

Allowing dissent

Challenging the “obvious” answer

And one key thing…

They avoided the “meeting momentum trap.”

You know this trap - I’ve been in one recently… (Enter into my mentorship, by the way, if you want to know more about it)

The room is leaning one way.

Nobody wants to be the idiot.

So everyone aligns.

And suddenly…

A bad idea becomes “the decision.”

Almost by consensus…

Just like that…

Well… fortunately, they chose the naval blockade.

Messy.

Imperfect.

Politically risky.

But it bought time.

Time = survival.

Now… your PPP project

Different country.

Different project.

Same movie.

You walk into a key meeting:

Bid strategy locked too early

Risk allocation already “agreed”

Financial model assumptions… shaky

Timeline? Completely unrealistic

But the room is moving.

Fast.

Too fast.

And you feel it.

That little voice:

“This doesn’t make sense…”

But you stay quiet.

Because:

You don’t want to slow things down

You don’t want to look difficult

You assume someone smarter already checked

Forget it… They didn’t.

Look.

I’ve made many mistakes.

And worst decisions are made in rooms where nobody speaks up.

Not because people are stupid.

Because they are:

Polite

Tired

Incentivised to close

Afraid to break momentum

The Cuban Missile Crisis was avoided because someone in the room had the balls to slow it down.

Your project won’t end the world.

But it can:

Kill your returns

Destroy your reputation

Lock you into 25 years of pain

So…

Next time you’re in the room…

And everyone agrees too quickly…

Ask yourself:

“Are we solving the problem… or just agreeing faster?”

And then do the one thing most people won’t:

Speak.

Because in big projects… in high stake tables… like in geopolitics…

Silence is expensive.

Click below for more fun.

​The Room​

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