Of all sayings, I despise this the most: “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”.
I have heard people use this phrase as justification for not training, not leading, not prospecting, not developing a team, as justification for leaving things exactly as they are.
To illustrate how stupid and dangerous this is, let’s apply it to your car. Would you drive your car, kilometre after kilometre, never adding oil, checking the tyre pressure or having it serviced? Would you just drive it into the ground?
Why not? “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!”
Treat a car this way and soon it will be ‘broke’ and you will need to fix it. A hefty repair bill will follow.
Imagine if you did this to your business!
Sad news: MANY LEADERS DO!
Leaders who don’t study leadership or work at developing their teams, who fail to determine a culture and set standards, fail to control expenses, fail to keep a watchful eye on profit, who lack discipline, are leading their companies downwards.
There is no marking time. You can’t stay exactly where you are.
You’re either going backwards or forwards, and it’s up to you, the leader, to decide in which direction you will take your company.
Great leaders constantly fine-tune their company and their team for peak performance. Leaders who fail to do this are attempting to mark time, not realising that they are, in fact, going backwards.
A leader who thinks, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” may have a business that is doing fine now, but it’s only a matter of time before the business will be ‘broke’ and the leader in damage control – and probably broke too.
Ditch the loser saying and replace it with this one:
“If it ain’t broke, build on it!”