“Managing a business is constantly choosing which fires to fight. And after putting the fire out, leaving a fire extinguisher behind.” Dr. Ed Hess, Darden
People who don’t think-ahead put a fire out but don’t leave behind a fire extinguisher. As a result, it’s only a matter of time before a large fire develops and takes down their organization.
Better than keeping a fire extinguisher behind is doing a root-cause analysis and discovering the source of the fire, then figuring out what loophole in the system allowed that to happen. And ultimately taking action to prevent fires from ever starting in the first place. The leader who leaves a fire extinguisher behind does good, but the leader who eliminates the source of the fire and also keeps a fire extinguisher behind does even better.
In my organizations, we aim to do both.
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