The most dangerous deals are the ones people describe with urgency:

• “We have to close by Friday.”
• “The seller is getting impatient.”
• “We’re too far in.”
• “We can’t lose this one.”

Urgency compresses thought.

Urgency makes people trade diligence for speed.
Urgency increases optimism and decreases skepticism.

And urgency is often used as a tactic—sometimes intentional, sometimes emotional—because it works.

But here’s the truth:

The deal that “had to close” is often the deal that needed the most time.

When time gets removed from the process, risk doesn’t get removed.

It gets hidden.