I was reading an article on the web about a Former CEO Of Multi Billion Dollar Global Corp. who remarked about always having to put out fires. That sparked a memory of my Business Coach telling me if you are Always Putting Out Fires You are the Arsonist. Some people like the excitement of the crisis and being the fire fighter. Yet it is hardly the way to run your career much less a business. It also brings to mind what the Famous Management Consultant Peter Drucker said: A well run factory is boring it just ticks along like a fine watch, on the other hand a poorly run factory is all full of smoke and people running around putting out fires. Yet some companies reward the heroics of fire fighters and ignore the smooth running watch. Guess which one is more profitable.

In our own lives and business we can if we take the time to take an honest look at most crisis situations say that they could often have been prevented. One wag told me: Proper, prior, planing, prevents, pitifully, poor, performance. We can’t predict when we will get a flat tire but we can make sure we have a spare tire and that it is full of air and/or have AAA as a backup. Avoid doing, before planning, don’t be in such a rush to start that you won’t have what you need when you get there. Yes plans need to be flexible, 2020 and 2021 have been ample proof of that.

Back to the CEO well his situation turned out much like you would expect when tough times hit in 2008 his company wasn’t ready. A once great company nearly collapsed and was wounded such that it is still many years away from full recovery. Fires are more easy prevented than put out. My Sales Training Coach Chris Jennings explained to me the universal law of problems “Problems start small and grow with time and accrue interest, becoming Big Problems. Thanks Chris wise advice that has helped me stay on the right side of the trouble line.