“One’s objective should be to get it right, get it quick, get it out, and get it over - your problem won’t improve with age."
This is what Warren Buffett's recipe for dealing with problems related to a business. We must quickly assess and understand a problem, and from there act swiftly to deal with it.
Buffett followed up his above comment saying this: “Should you find yourself in a chronically leaking boat, energy devoted to changing vessels is likely to be more productive than energy devoted to patching leaks.”
The equivalent to patching leaks in a boat is to remain obsessed with the present while neglecting the future.
A problem is always present-oriented. To focus on that over a period of time, in order to fix it, could be mortgaging your business future, as the impact in most cases will be negligible in the short and the long term.
We have to know when to focus on present problems and when to abandon them. That's the point Buffett was making. As Buffett said, problems don't improve with age; they aren't like wine. On the contrary, they not only worsen with age, but they hinder a business from going forward as resources and time are applied to them with minimal value and results.
Don't take this as a encouragement to ignore problems, that's not what's being said. What's being said is we have to understand whether a problem is worth tackling, or we should abandon a project and go on with something else.
If a project has too many leaks or problems, it may be better to abandon it than to continue on stubbornly refusing to give up. Great business leaders know that abandoning a project isn't a failure, it's a strategy when it's the right time to do it.
To be an effective business leader, we need to understand the difference between rightly continuing on with a project, and when we need to abandon one and go in another direction. Those getting this right will be the winners in the long term.
Other Buffett Resources:
MSU students have special visit with billionaire Warren Buffett
Sticking to what you know Core businesses
Remember to Sign up for my feed
Sponsored link: The outsourcing every manager requires - Tampa Locksmith
Comment Preview