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satel ite technology that enabled multiple locations of companies to communicate with each other, but Web technology was quickly closing in. Having made a fortune in another industry, he had bought this company with a lot of promise, but over the last few years, their niche and advantage were disappearing.
    Instead of waving the white flag and morphing into something new, he was determined to make it work. He had convinced more than half of his board that it would, and they were continuing to look for money to keep it going. He stil maintained that undaunted sense of what he cal ed the leadership trait of “hope,” and he was steadfast. But in my mind and in the minds of the other members of his board—not to mention potential investors, who were increasingly not returning cal s—what he was cal ing hope was only an empty wish. He was headed for a crash, and it was just a matter of time.
    What was the difference between Geoff and Blair? Was it brains? Was it experience? Was it market savvy? No, it was none of those. They both possessed equal amounts of talent and brains. It was something that goes deeper.
    The difference was how comfortable they were with endings, which enabled Blair to see what needed to be done, and made Geoff keep the blinders on.

    Blair overcame his internal conflict and initiated an ending when he final y saw that it was time, and yet my friend Geoff had hit a wal . Even the most gifted people and leaders are subject to feeling conflicted about ending things, so they resist that moment of truth. And not only do they resist, they sometimes cannot even see. Thus they find themselves crosswise with the very nature of life itself.
    Make Endings Normal

    In the last chapter, I asked you to use a gut check to examine your feelings about pruning, to come to terms with your previous beliefs about endings, and to honestly assess where your internal resistances lie. This is the first step to moving forward. The second step is this: Make the endings a normal occurrence and a normal part of business and life , instead of seeing it as a problem.
    Then and only then can you align yourself wel with endings when they come. It has to do with your brain and how it works.
    If a situation fal s within the range of normal, expected, and known, the human brain automatical y marshals al available resources and moves to engage it. But if the brain interprets the situation as negative, dangerous, wrong, or unknown, a fight-or-flight response kicks in that moves us away from the issue or begins to resist it. Execution stops or automatical y goes in the other direction. Put into the context of endings, if you see them as normal, expected, and even a good thing , you wil embrace them and take action to execute them. You wil see them as a painful gift. But if you see an ending as meaning “something is wrong if this has to happen,” you wil resist them or fight them long past when they should be fought. Endings have to be perceived as a normal part of work and life.
    Unlike my friend Geoff, Blair had no conflict other than the need to work through the normal painful process that it takes to get to the “moment.” He had tried to make his business work, numbed himself at first to the reality, protested and fought it by trying other strategies, turning up the crank and tried even harder, looking for new customers, etc. etc.—real y ral ying and pushing. He, like any other good leader, was embracing the problem and tackling it head-on. That is perseverance and a good trait. It is essential and causes businesses to be rescued out of the jaws of defeat every day.
    But, he was also able to admit when more effort was not going to bring about a different result . That is the moment , when someone real y gets it and knows that something is over. You have seen the scene in the movies when the patient dies, the doctor looks up at the clock, quotes the time of death, breathes a heavy sigh, pul s off her gloves, and walks out the door.