In transactions, leadership, and lending, the most expensive lessons are often the ones people assume they won’t have to pay for.

They assume goodwill will transfer.
They assume people will stay.
They assume leadership intent will overcome execution gaps.

When those assumptions fail, the lesson is bought — sometimes at a very high price.

What matters isn’t avoiding bought lessons altogether. That’s unrealistic. What matters is learning from them fully — not rushing to reframe them, minimize them, or assign them elsewhere.

The leaders who grow are the ones who can say:

• We paid for this lesson.
• We understand it now.
• We won’t repeat it.

That’s how experience compounds.

The best lesson is a bought lesson — not because it’s painful, but because it’s permanent.