136. Felix Riley - How leaders create momentum in uncertain times

Most deals don’t die because your product is wrong. They die because the person on the other side is scared of losing.

This conversation with Felix Riley is a reminder that we are not operating in a rational world. We are operating in a psychological one. Risk aversion, learned helplessness, confirmation bias. These aren’t abstract ideas. They’re the hidden forces shaping every commercial decision. If you don’t surface them, you’re negotiating in the dark.

We get into what’s really going on in the buyer’s head, why doing nothing feels safer than change, and why the best operators stop selling products and start uncovering what people actually want. Not what they say. What they really want.

In this episode If you want to win better deals, do this:

• Surface every fear in the room. If it’s not said, it’s still there and it will kill your deal
• Reframe risk. Buyers fixate on certain loss versus uncertain gain. Your job is to challenge that framing
• Ask “what do you really want?” until you get past the surface answer
• Lean into uncomfortable truths instead of hiding behind polite conversations
• Be willing to walk away. Trust compounds faster than revenue

Episode highlights [03:08] The three biases quietly wrecking your deals: confirmation bias, learned helplessness, and risk aversion [08:01] The internal finance conversation that kills momentum before it starts [10:11] Why “and what else?” is the most powerful question in discovery [12:10] Kind lies vs painful truths and why one leads to failure [15:58] The real differentiator isn’t product or price. It’s trust [17:20] Why doing nothing feels safer even when it’s clearly wrong [24:58] The shift from “what do you want?” to “what do you really want?” [31:57] The mistake most operators make: not taking enough risk

Links and resources

https://www.felixriley.com/

https://uk.linkedin.com/in/felix-riley-brilliant-thinking

 

If you got value from this, follow the show and share it with someone who’s responsible for real commercial outcomes. And if you haven’t already, leave a review. It helps more than you think.