Law 3: Trust—but Verify

Judgment: In this game, trust is essential—but it’s not enough. The cannabis industry moves fast, and the margin for error is razor-thin. Delegating without oversight might feel like empowerment, but it’s often just a slow bleed in disguise. You can believe in your team and still check their work—because real leadership doesn’t run on blind faith. It runs on truth.

Transgression of the Law

The owner trusted his top managers like family. These were the ride-or-die crew from the early days—handled payroll, ordering, even HR. Nobody questioned them. Why would they?

The numbers looked fine. On the surface.

But no one was checking the surface.

COAs weren’t uploaded.

The register was short.

Product was “missing in transit.”

The red flags weren’t missed—they were ignored. Why? Because no one wanted to question the golden children. The assumption? “They got it.”

Until they didn’t.

An internal audit exposed over $50,000 in untracked inventory, ghost shifts, and private vendor deals. It wasn’t just mismanagement—it was betrayal wrapped in years of unverified trust.

Even the devil was God’s favorite angel once.

By the time the owner got involved, it was too late.

Reputation: wrecked.

Books: a mess.

Culture: poisoned.

And the team that once felt unshakable? Scattered.

The investors would never trust that leadership again.

Observance of the Law

Another operator ran lean—but ran sharp. Her GM had the keys, passwords, and the power to place orders. And she still reviewed the logs every month.

Random package checks.

Unannounced cycle counts.

Bonuses tied to data accuracy—not trust.

Not because she doubted her team.

Because she believed in the mission enough to protect it.

No one got offended. Because it wasn’t personal—it was standard.

And when it came time to raise capital, investors found the books clean, the process clear, and the operation airtight.

She didn’t just build trust—she verified it.

Interpretation

In this industry, there’s a temptation to “empower” your team by staying hands-off. You want to trust them. You want to believe they’ve got it.

But trust without oversight becomes a breeding ground for corner-cutting, passive theft, and bad habits.

Trust—but verify doesn’t mean you don’t believe in your people.

It means you believe in the mission enough to protect it.

Because if the business falls apart, no one gets to keep playing hero.

You’re not running a family. You’re running a regulated business. Act like it.

Keys to Power (How to Use It)

• Audit everything. Don’t announce it. Just do it.

• Spot-check often. Products, hours, drawers, systems.

• Tie accuracy to rewards. Clean data = bigger bonuses.

• Normalize verification. If it feels “offensive,” you’ve already waited too long.

Reversal (When It Might Not Apply)

When you’re launching with a skeleton crew and everyone’s grinding shoulder to shoulder, you may run on trust by necessity. But that’s a short window. Don’t let necessity become your standard.

Trust is earned daily. Verification keeps it alive.

Margin Notes:

“Even the devil was God’s favorite angel once.”