If you want to destroy a company... show that you are the most protective of its money

If you want to destroy a company... don’t squander its money. And don’t make catastrophic mistakes. Do something much smarter: convince the owners that every decision must be delayed until we are sure. Convince them that every project needs an additional study. That every initiative can be executed later. And that every riyal we spend today poses a risk to the company.

In everyone’s eyes, you will appear to be the wisest, the most honest, and the most protective of the owners’ money. But there is a problem that many people fail to notice:

We see the cost of making a decision today. But the cost of delaying a decision... no one sees.

This is why delaying decisions becomes easier than making them. Resistance to change becomes a virtue, and rejecting initiatives becomes proof of wisdom—while the company quietly declines.

Dear Owner... Dear CEO... Before you believe anyone who raises the slogan of "cost-cutting," ask yourself:

1. After years of delaying decisions... has our company become stronger or weaker?
2. Have the problems we postponed resolving disappeared... or have they grown to become even more costly?
3. Have we ever saved the cost of a decision... only to pay multiples of it later to fix the consequences of the delay?
4. Does the person opposing decisions always speak of a real alternative... or do they merely settle for rejection?
5. When we rejected a project or an investment... what replaced it? And was it better?
6. Did our competitors advance because they were braver in decision-making... while we were simply more skilled at delaying?
7. If we calculated the value of lost opportunities due to delay... would it be less than the amounts we were trying to save?
8. Have the people constantly demanding no spending led the company to a better stage... or did the company remain in the exact same place while their influence grew?
9. If the company hasn't changed much over past years... whose situation actually improved? The company’s... or the executives with titles and perks?
10. If I were to buy this company today, would I consider its culture of delaying decisions as an asset... or as one of its biggest liabilities?

There is a huge difference between someone who protects the company's money... and someone who protects the company itself. The former may block spending; the latter knows when spending is the only way to protect the company's value.

True loyalty is not measured by the number of decisions stopped, nor by the number of projects never started, nor by the riyals left unspent. True loyalty is measured by a single question: Is the company better off now than when you took over? If the answer is no... perhaps the problem wasn't the cost of the decision. Perhaps the problem was the mindset that made delaying a decision look like a virtue.

Mohammed Bin Saleh

Interested in Management & Finance

Quality of thinking precedes quality of results