“Chains of habit are too light to be felt until they are too heavy to be broken.”
When you first look at this comment by Buffett, it seems to be saying that it is wrong to develop habits. I think that it would be a mistake to interpret it that way. He has ran Berkshire Hathaway (BRK-A) in a very habitual way.
It's not an attack upon habits, but an attack upon wrong habits.
If we develop habits in our leadership that aren't well thought through and proven, Buffett is saying that we won't be able to see it until the effects of it are too late. At that time, as he says, "they are too heavy to be broken."
This doesn't mean that we can't personally change, but that the influence that we've wielded is spread throughout the company and it can't simply be taken back.
We do need to develop habits ... healthy, powerful habits in management, that we live with, not thinking that much about them - they just are. But in the beginning of development they're built self-consciously to the point where we are spontaneously living them without having to think much about it.
If we don't do this, we then are victims of ourselves as we allow habits to shape us without understanding or thinking about the consequences.
When we establish habits built upon the core values and purpose of the company, it is a good check on ensuring that we won't go off base and allow things within us to potentially destroy the business or division we serve.
Other Buffett Resources:
Warren Buffett: The trouble with being a legend
Warren Buffett: 'I told you so'
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