My CEO told me to stop
I thought I was doing everything right. I wasn't.
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One day, the CEO walked over to my desk, sat down next to me, and said, “Andrew, I know what you’re doing - and I want you to stop.”
I still remember that moment vividly.
We hadn’t worked much together at that point. So it was a heart-racing moment at the time.
It looked pretty similar to this.
(except he only had 2 feet - thanks a lot nano banana)
And I had no idea what I’d done wrong.
Before I started and scaled my first growth team, I was a growth marketer focused on user acquisition.
And our CEO would occasionally Slack me fun ideas he’d heard from his startup founder buddies. Tests they’d run. Changes that had moved the needle. Channels they were scaling. And things he thought we should try.
And every single time, I said:
“Yeah, great call. Adding this to our next sprint.”
I genuinely thought I was doing the right thing. I was being helpful. I was being a team player. I was supporting the execs. And I was making my bosses boss job easier.
But he saw it a little differently.
He sat down and said: “Andrew, I really appreciate how quickly you jump on this stuff. My job is to bring growth ideas to the right person - that’s you. But your job isn’t to say yes just because I’m the CEO. Your job is to evaluate whether it’s actually the most impactful thing to do for the business - and say no when it’s not. I have bad ideas all the time.”
I remember sitting there feeling slightly embarrassed, and completely relieved.
Because I’d been saying yes to everything for years. Not just to him. To everyone. It felt like the safe move. The career-smart move. The move that kept people happy and kept me out of trouble.
What I didn’t realize was that every yes was quietly costing me.
Every yes meant something more important got delayed. Every yes meant my actual priorities got diluted. And every yes sent a signal that I didn’t have a clear point of view on what actually mattered.
Here’s what I’ve learned from coaching 90+ growth leaders since then:
The ones who build the most influence don’t say yes the fastest - or the most. They say no (when it makes sense) clearly - and explain exactly why.
“If we take this on, here’s what we’re pushing back.”
“I love this idea. It’s not the right moment - here’s what we’re focused on instead.”
“I want to make sure we’re spending our time on the thing most likely to move the needle towards our current goals. Can we revisit this next quarter?”
That’s how you build trust with a CEO. That’s how you become someone leadership actually relies on - not just someone who clears their inbox.
Saying yes got you here. Learning to say no strategically is what gets you to the next level.
This week I put together a video on the 5 prioritization skills that separate growth leaders who have real impact from the ones who stay busy.
The "saying no" piece is skill five, but honestly, it's the one that unlocks all the others.