About four years ago, I was standing in the kitchen with my wife, catching up on our day.
Her day was much more interesting that mine. At least that's what I remember.
She had just finished baking her mouth-watering, slightly crispy on the outside, moist and chewy on the inside brownies, and I couldn't wait to dig in.
And, wouldn't you know it -- I was down to my last bite when I chomped down, and all of a sudden, a huge part of my tooth broke off and...
Fell Right Out of My Mouth!
It was so crazy! I mean, it's not like there were any nuts in the brownie (there weren't) and I didn't bite into any of the crunchy ends.
It was just that I took that final bite -- and out came part of my tooth.
To this day, Evy and I joke about it (or should I say we scratch our heads about it): How can such a benign act of biting into a soft brownie cause my tooth to split in half and jump right out of my mouth?
But it's deeper than that.
When you think about it...
It wasn't that one soft bite that caused the break, it was the countless bites I had taken over the many months and years that gradually added up and caused the tooth to split. "The straw that broke the camels' back" if you will.
And this is the type of thing I consult with business on all the time. When companies hire me to help them fix their business or make them more profitable, one of the common things I hear is:
"It Seems Like All of a Sudden
Things Went Wrong"
Business owners are constantly surprised by how "quickly" things go south, wondering how it happened at such a rapid pace.
The fact is, things don't normally "suddenly' break down -- it happens over time. There are usually many clues along the way... many lead ups... many signs of disruption or dysfunction.
However, these warning signs are often ignored or shelved (for many reasons).
This Reminds Me of the Time...
I was retained by an oil distribution company to identify their problems and turn things around. Within about an hour, I noticed a glaring problem: One of the employees had infected the entire staff with his negative attitude and poor work
ethic.
This certainly wasn't a "sudden" occurrence. The company had been quite profitable; however, over time, morale weakened, and it began to affect the employees and the bottom line.
The owner, who was a softie, suspected a problem with this employee but kept him around because he like him personally.
Staffing issues, like money issues, like process issues, only get worse over time if they're not addressed right away. This was precisely the problem.
My Recommendation to the Business Owner?
I recommended the business owner fire that one employee immediately because he was unwilling to change and it was too late to turn him around.
The owner refused to fire him... and about six months later... the company closed its doors.
Had things been addressed in a timely fashion, the company's demise could have been avoided.
