PushPress Operating Tenant #7: Take Ownership & Dig Deep
Leaders take complete ownership, and we are all leaders.
Estimated Read Time: 4 minutes
TLDR: At PushPress, we value those who stand up and take ownership. When things do not add up we do not let things slide, we dig deeper and ask questions to bring the truth to the surface. We trust but verify and understand we are working as a team to solve customer needs - not our own.
Recap: We Dropped Core Values for Operating Tenets
At PushPress, we recently ditched Core Values because we needed principles that would guide real actions, not just feel-good statements. As we've grown from scrappy startup to serving hundreds of gyms, we needed a framework that would help us execute better.
Today's Tenet: Take Ownership and Dig Deep
Why Ownership Matters
Let’s be honest—most problems in business aren’t technical, they’re accountability failures.
Someone drops the ball, nobody owns it, and now your customer is pissed and your team is pointing fingers. Rinse and repeat.
It's not about who is right. It's about what is right.
— Jocko Willink
This kills momentum. It creates silos. People start playing defense instead of solving problems. Energy that should go into moving fast gets wasted on Slack blame threads and awkward status meetings.
Ownership breaks that cycle. When people take full responsibility for outcomes—not just tasks—the entire flywheel starts to spin. Communication improves. Solutions come faster. Trust builds.
But ownership is a two-sided coin. You can’t just own your stuff and micromanage everyone else’s. You have to trust your teammates to do the same. That tension—radical ownership without control-freakery—is where high-functioning teams live.
As Jocko says, it's not about who’s right—it’s about what’s right. And when a customer has a problem, blame is worthless. All that matters is fixing it, fast.
Show me the raw data.
— Me. When shit doesn’t add up.
What Digging Deep Means
Let’s be real: most teams let too much slide.
Someone hands you a report with numbers that seem off? You nod and move on.
A customer mentions a weird bug that happens “sometimes”? You file it away.
A metric doesn't match expectations? You accept the first explanation offered.
And just like that, you’ve traded insight for indifference. That choice compounds over time.
Ownership without curiosity is a dead end. The best operators don’t just own the outcome—they dig until they understand it.
At PushPress, “digging deep” means:
Questioning assumptions – Never accepting “that’s just how it works.”
Verifying firsthand – Looking at the data yourself, not trusting it blindly.
Following breadcrumbs – Small inconsistencies usually lead to big problems.
Pushing past the first answer – Because the obvious answer is rarely the whole story.
Here’s a real one: Last night I reviewed a GTM report with a team lead. It claimed an 80% drop in ICP demos booked—an alarming stat.
Instead of spinning out, I asked one question: “Show me the raw data.”
Ten minutes later, we had the answer. A recent update to our demo page was misclassifying ICPs. We weren’t down 80%—we were mislabeling leads. No pivot needed, just a correction.
That ten-minute dive saved us from a false alarm and fixed the real issue.
That’s why we dig. Because surface-level understanding leads to surface-level decisions. And in a high-velocity business, that’s how you lose time, trust, and traction.
The PushPress Approach
We operate with one mindset: Own it. Dig deep. Get it right.
Leaders take ownership.
Leadership isn’t about headcount—it’s about outcomes. Anyone can manage tasks. Leaders own results. That’s expected from everyone here, whether you’re an intern or the CEO.
Trust, but verify.
We trust our team to own their domains. But trust doesn’t mean turning your brain off. When something feels off, we ask questions. Not to point fingers, but to make things better.
Think cross-functionally.
Problems don’t care about your department lines. Neither should your solutions. The customer experience is holistic—our thinking should be too.
Prioritize clarity over comfort.
Sitting in confusion is easy. Asking hard questions isn’t. We choose uncomfortable clarity every time. That’s how we level up.
At the end of the day, it’s not about catching someone slipping. It’s about doing right by our gym owners—fast, clean, and with no ego.
The Bottom Line
Ownership isn’t doing everything yourself. It’s ensuring the right things get done—no matter what it takes.
The best companies in the world—Amazon, Toyota, the Navy SEALs—share this mindset. They don’t settle for surface-level answers. They don’t pass the buck. They own everything in their world and dig until they find the truth.
That’s why PushPress works. Not because of flashy features or clever marketing. But because we solve real problems, for real gym owners, in the real world.
When shit breaks, we own it.
When something smells off, we dig.
That’s the standard. No exceptions.