Working Up

by Dwayne Phillips

Accepting poor performance and low-quality products sets a precedent. The longer this lasts, the more difficult it is to change the situation.

Comedian Don Knotts had this routine playing Barney Fife on the Andy Griffith Show. “Nip it in the bud,” was the punchline that was punched over and over. I still think it is funny whenever I see it.

Ten years ago, I wrote a blog post titled, “Act Early, Act Small.” That post had the same point as this post. Act today. Do something today. Nip it in the bud before it grows and grows and grows. Weeds are easier to pull at 6″ than at 6′. More cliches?

Poor quality products arrive from someone. Well, I’m new here and I don’t want to make an early impression as a grouch or some type of bad person. I’ll let it go for now. I’ll say something later when it is really important and we won’t have time to fix it and we will all look bad and others will suffer and…

Uh, wait. Maybe that isn’t a good strategy. Maybe waiting a long time will produce bad things that are big like that weed that is now six feet tall.

Nip it in the bud—today. “Fellas, this isn’t the most important thing in the world, but let’s start now and improve a little here, today.”

We can do better. Let’s act early while we can still act small.