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This week, in episode 165, Paul Downs, Jay Goltz, and Laura Zander don\u2019t hold back. Laura and Jay both say their sales are coming in well below expectations. Not surprisingly, Jay has a five-point checklist that he\u2019s using to assess and address his shortfall. Laura\u2019s situation involves a marketing team that she says has been feeling stressed and is coming apart, with lots of crying and arguing. \u201cThey\u2019re just collapsing,\u201d she tells us. Paul, meanwhile, says his sales aren\u2019t bad, but he\u2019s got one employee who\u2019s been holding them back. The employee, who\u2019s been with Paul for 10 years, has been spiraling of late, says Paul, who\u2019s dreading what he calls \u201cthe toughest conversation,\u201d a conversation he fears will leave the employee devastated. In such situations, Jay says, he\u2019s found it helpful to rank himself from one to 10 on the hardass scale: If Mr. Rogers is a 1 and Jack Welch\u2014the take-no-prisoners former CEO of GE\u2014is a 10, where do you want to be? \u201cIf you pick four or five,\u201d Jay says, \u201cyou're probably gonna go out of business.\u201d