In Breaking Bad, Mike is concerned about Jesse still being part of their operation because he’s an addict and a liability to the business. He tells Walter a story about a call he used to get often while he was a cop. It was a domestic dispute, and he was out there every week with his partner. The wife was the victim. Her husband often beat her and she was absolutely terrified of him so she would never press charges.
One day, when Mike was working alone and got called out there again, he cuffed the guy and put him in his patrol car to bring him to jail, like he normally did. On the way there, the guy starts humming Daddy Boy in the backseat. Mike lost it and decided that he was going to end this cycle of violence against the man’s wife and just kill him. He’s about to do it, and the man begs for his life and promises that he wouldn’t hurt his wife again. Mike shows mercy and lets him go.
Two weeks later the man killed his wife. He then tells Walter, “The moral of the story is I chose a half measure when I should have gone all the way. I’ll never make that mistake again. No more half measures, Walter.”
Merriam Webster defines a “half measure” as “a partial, halfhearted, or weak line of action.” When we don’t want to commit to our decision, we tend to take half measures. For example, perhaps you made a decision without seeking proper counsel beforehand, even though you know you should have. I know in business I have definitely made mistakes where I have maintained partnerships that weren’t mutually beneficial anymore. I knew it wasn’t working out but hoped it would, so I stayed committed until it became so cumbersome, I had to end it.
Some of our best lessons come from having chosen a half measure. What half measures have you chosen? How could you have decided differently?
