This from the HBR blogs, always a wealth of insight.
Quote of the day from this article:
"Success hides problems."
Of course. How obvious. Why don't more of us see those obvious things in front of us?
OS's first job out of college was with a successful small business, family owned, recently moved into a lovely building custom-built for them. Creative on top floor one side, admin top floor the other, production on the ground floor, and warehouse round back. It was cool to be there, and success was in the air.
Now the building stands empty. The company was bought for pennies just before bankruptcy.
A member of the family told OS the crucial anecdote:
On the day we dedicated that building, our CPA quietly told us that this building is not a monument to what we have achieved, but to what we would have to achieve going forward.
They were so happy about being successful, they never saw or dealt with the problems.
The next time OS had dealings with them, some ten years later, they were in total chaos, in the death spiral, never to recover.
Success hides problems.
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