The Rules of Management, 4th Edition

RULE 10

Be ready to prune

OK, so say you’ve got an orchestra and you get them to play. You listen. Something wrong somewhere. Yep, that flute player is out of tune, off key and playing from a different hymn sheet. Now you have three choices:

• put up with it
• change it
• end it.

Let’s have a little look at these three because, as in all things – from relationships, to life, to work, to being a parent – these three choices are the same every single time.

So, you’re going to put up with it. This makes your entire -orchestra sound flat, out of tune and ill-fitted to do its job properly – that of supplying sweet music to the masses. Your listening public (your objective) will not listen and will accuse you, the orchestra leader, of being a nincompoop ...