The Synaptic Gap: Why Owners Struggle to Address Organizational Pain Points
Paul Fioravanti, MBA, MPA, CTP
CEO | Interim CEO/COO/CRO/GM | Growth/Exit Advisor | Operating Partner l Board Member | Transformational Fixer I EBITDA Improvement | Turnaround & Restructuring | Certified Turnaround Professional | American 🇺🇸
Nothing Will Change Until the Pain of Staying the Same Exceeds the Pain of Change
Change is hard. Even when it’s necessary. Even when it’s strategic. Even when it’s obvious.
As advisors, consultants, and operating partners, we see this every day: business owners and leaders struggling—not with ideas, but with action.
They bring in experts. They commission strategy decks. They nod through diagnostics. And yet, when it’s time to do the thing… they hesitate. They stall. They delay. They sometimes just leave and take vacations.
Why? Because at the deepest level, many leaders—especially founders and long-time owners—harbor a preference they may not even realize:
"What we see frequently with owners that struggle to make change is that they’d rather fail on their own terms than succeed on someone else’s." - Paul Fioravanti, QORVAL Partners, LLC.
That kind of pride is deeply human… but it’s also deeply dangerous. It keeps businesses stuck in the status quo long after the warning signs are flashing red.
And here’s the hard truth: Until the pain of change becomes less than the pain of staying the same, most leaders won’t act.
The Psychology of Stagnation
Owners often equate change with loss—loss of control, pride, identity, or narrative. But failing to change is not a neutral act. It is a decision. One with a price tag.
At QORVAL, we’ve been brought in to help companies in crisis, transition, and transformation for nearly 30 years. And in our experience, real change only happens when leaders reach a pain threshold—when they can no longer tolerate the dysfunction, disconnection, or decline that has crept into their business.
They finally say:
“I can’t keep losing money like this.”
“I’m tired of carrying this alone.”
“Something has to give.”
“If I don’t change, I’ll lose the business I built.”
Or, worse, partners, banks, customers, employees start saying things:
"We are putting you in forbearance."
"We are moving our business elsewhere."
"I'm giving my two weeks' notice."
"Buy me out" or "I want to buy you out."
And only then does action begin.
10 Common Decisions Business Owners Struggle With
These aren’t theoretical. These are the actual decisions that keep owners awake at night, and often go unmade for far too long:
Replacing or reassigning long-tenured, underperforming staff
Letting go of a family member or close friend in the business
Bringing in outside leadership or ceding control of operations
Implementing cost-cutting measures that affect morale or image
Changing pricing models, product lines, or business models
Closing or divesting an underperforming location or unit
Taking on debt or outside investment to fuel growth or recovery
Hiring a COO, CFO, or outside board when feeling “not ready”
Pursuing a sale, succession, or exit after years of identity attachment
Acknowledging that a current path (or paths) is (are) no longer viable
These are not just business decisions—they’re emotional crossroads. And owners often agonize over them far longer than is healthy or productive.
10 Tips to Help Leaders Get Over the Hump
If you’re stuck on a hard decision—or watching a client or peer spin in place—these tactics can help shift the mindset toward action:
Name the Real Fear Is it fear of failure? Judgment? Loss of control? Naming it gives it less power.
Clarify the Cost of Inaction What will it cost—financially, operationally, reputationally—if nothing changes?
Get External Perspective An objective voice (advisor, board member, peer) can challenge your blind spots.
Ask: “What would I advise a friend to do?” This removes ego and emotion from the decision.
Create a “Change Impact” Matrix List the upside and downside of each potential action. Visual clarity helps move decisions forward.
Test a Pilot, Not a Perfection Try a small version of the change. Momentum builds from testing, not theorizing.
Delegate the Execution—but Not the Decision Own the call. Let trusted operators carry it out.
Reframe Control as Stewardship You're not giving up control—you’re protecting the business for its next chapter.
Celebrate the Pain of Progress Hard choices aren’t a failure of leadership—they’re a proof of it.
Remember Why You Started Reconnect to the vision that built the business. Use that as fuel to protect its future.
The Synapse: A Metaphor for Leadership Inaction and Change Resistance
In neuroscience, a synapse is the small space between two neurons that must be crossed for a signal to transmit from one cell to another. This process allows the brain to send messages, trigger movement, and enable thought to become action.
The signal doesn’t just “hop” across—it requires a threshold level of activation to release neurotransmitters that carry it across the gap. Until that threshold is reached, the signal stops short. Nothing moves forward.
Now, apply that to the world of business leadership.
The Synaptic Gap in Business Decision-Making
For business owners, the synapse represents the critical gap between awareness and action—between knowing what needs to be done and actually doing it.
This is the psychological and emotional space where leaders stall:
They know they need to reassign a struggling executive.
They know a product line should be retired.
They know the strategy isn’t working.
But still… they do nothing.
They are caught in a synaptic gap—an invisible resistance between clarity and execution.
Just like in the brain, until the pain of inaction (or the reward of action) becomes great enough to fire the signal across the synapse, the organization remains stuck.
Action Requires Threshold Energy
In neuroscience, this is known as the action potential threshold—the level of stimulus required to activate a response.
In business, it’s the principle described in the article:
“Until the pain of changing becomes less than the pain of staying the same, no real change will occur.”
That threshold energy in leadership can come from:
Mounting financial losses
External pressure from stakeholders
Burnout from carrying a dysfunctional team
A sense of legacy or purpose demanding better stewardship
But until that threshold is crossed, decision-making remains theoretical. No matter how strong the insight, the organization can’t move.
Closing the Synapse: Moving From Thought to Action
So above I provided two lists. Here's what they serve as:
The 10 common decisions leaders avoid are the “signals” that remain suspended in the synaptic space.
The 10 tips are the catalytic tools that help leaders bridge the gap—like neurotransmitters enabling the signal to pass through.
And using this information to develop an ownership awareness level enables clarity and objectivity - for example:
Asking, “What would I advise a friend to do?” helps neutralize fear.
Visualizing the cost of inaction builds pressure to change.
Reframing control as stewardship lowers emotional resistance.
Understanding the consequences of staying on the same path
Each technique reduces the internal friction and brings the business owner closer to the threshold that triggers decisive movement.
Building a Culture of Neural (and Organizational) Agility
In neuroscience, the more frequently a synaptic pathway is activated, the stronger it becomes. Over time, these pathways create neural efficiency—what we think of as habits, reflexes, and learned behaviors.
Likewise, in business:
The more leaders confront hard truths,
The more they act with conviction,
The more they develop organizational muscle memory for effective decision-making.
Each decision made—especially the tough ones—reinforces the enterprise’s ability to act swiftly and wisely the next time around.
Bottom Line: Change Is a Neural Event
Organizations don’t change because someone knows what to do. They change because someone chooses to act.
Bridging that synaptic gap—from thought to action, from hesitation to motion—is the core of leadership. It’s also the differentiator between businesses that drift toward decline and those that evolve, grow, and endure.
Leadership is a series of fired synapses. Make yours count.
Leading Through the Threshold
No one said leadership was comfortable. But leadership isn’t about comfort—it’s about courage. About seeing clearly. Acting decisively. And doing what’s best for the business, even when it’s hard.
The most successful owners we’ve worked with—across industries, geographies, and business models—have one thing in common: when the moment called for change, they didn’t flinch.
They didn’t let pride become a prison. They didn’t cling to failing models out of nostalgia. They chose action over anxiety. And in doing so, they transformed their companies, their legacies, and themselves.
Paul Fioravanti, MBA, MPA, CTP, is the CEO & Managing Partner of QORVAL Partners, LLC, a FL-based advisory firm (founded 1996 by Jim Malone, (1942–2021), six-time Fortune 100/500 CEO). Qorval is a US-based growth and exit advisory, turnaround, restructuring, business optimization and interim management firm. Fioravanti is a proven advisor and CEO with experience in more than 90 situations in more than 40 industries. He earned his MBA and MPA from The University of Rhode Island and completed advanced post-master’s research in finance and marketing at Bryant University. He is a Certified Turnaround Professional and member of the Turnaround Management Association, the Private Directors Association, Association for Corporate Growth (ACG), Association of Merger & Acquisition Advisors (AM&MA), the American Bankruptcy Institute, and IMCUSA.
Copyright 2025, Qorval Partners LLC and/or Paul Fioravanti, MBA, MPA, CTP. All rights reserved. No reproduction or redistribution without permission.
Grow it. Fix it. Exit.
At QORVAL, we’ve helped hundreds of companies and business owners navigate their pain thresholds and emerge stronger. Whether you’re facing crisis, succession, transformation, or uncertainty—we’re here to help you act boldly, lead wisely, and protect the business you’ve built.
QORVAL Partners: Grow It. Fix it. Exit. Helping companies scale, transform, and prepare for what’s next. www.qorval.com 239 588 0008 helpmybusiness@qorval.com
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