When Silicon Valley Bank collapsed, Folx Health had every dollar there. Payroll. Benefits. Patient care. Gone overnight.
CEO Liana Douillet Guzmán spent the weekend in spreadsheets and late-night calls, trying to keep her company alive. Then, on Sunday, the government announced the bailout. All the money was coming back.
Crisis averted. Everyone could breathe again.
Except Liana.
She looked at her wife and said, “I have a pit in my stomach, because I can’t unsee what I saw this weekend.”
What she saw was a business that could be stronger, leaner, and more durable. She saw waste, inertia, and the need for focus. Within days, she made the hard call to cut 20 percent of the team, not because the bank failed, but because she refused to ignore what she had learned.
That’s leadership. Seeing what’s uncomfortable and choosing to act anyway.
Transparency isn’t telling everyone everything, it’s telling the truth about what you can. Authenticity is standing in those truths even when people don’t like you for it.
Every CEO has that moment they can’t unsee. The real question is whether they have the courage to act on it.
Crises reveal things we couldn’t see before. But clarity only matters if we act on it. Liana’s story isn’t about banking or budgets. It’s about courage. The courage to look at something uncomfortable and say, I can’t unsee that, and I’m not going to pretend I can. That’s real leadership.
If you liked this story, subscribe to Critical Moments for more real conversations about leadership, courage, and clarity. And if you’ve had your own “can’t unsee it” moment, I’d love to hear about it.
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