Healthy Businesses Scratch Around
Healthy Businesses Scratch Around
July 8, 2009 by Taylor Studios
“Business is never so healthy as when, like a chicken, it must do a certain amount of scratching around for what it gets.” – Henry Ford
I read the above quote in a book on the history of the Ford Motor Company 20 years ago and it stuck with me. It is natural to want life, personal, and work to be easy. Luckily sometimes it is. Everything is clicking. We have more opportunities than we can handle. Customers are willing to pay a premium for our unique products. New positions are being created. Raises are good. Enjoying the fruits of our labor is appropriate as long as two things are kept in mind.
1. Extended good times can result in very unhealthy practices. People become complacent. All decisions are justified with “if it isn’t broken don’t fix it.” We become like a pampered house cat, fat and happy, but completely unable to compete if required.
2. Challenging times will come. You should expect them. They are not the exception but the rule in business. Bill Gates said “Profitability is an unnatural state; it requires the constant infusion of energy to sustain.”
With these two thoughts in mind challenges should not be feared. They should be accepted as “normal.” They make us “scratch around.” In the long run they make us leaner, stronger, and smarter. Even better, by getting through them they become some our fondest memories. Few memories in life are as sweet as looking back on a difficult period that you were able to get through with hard work and smart decisions.
Posted by: Grant Hughes, Production Manager