Stop watering dead plants

The best advice you'll receive today...

This idea about stop watering dead plants might seem obvious in your house, but for some reason, many people continue doing it in their businesses.

Of course, you realize that I’m not literally talking about plants, but rather elements of your company that it’s time to say goodbye to.

Most of us are aware of the fallacy of sunk cost, a cognitive bias that occurs when people make decisions based on the amount of time, money, or resources they have already invested in a particular endeavor, rather than considering the current circumstances and future prospects.

The fallacy is that we believe that because we have already invested significant resources in something, we should continue doing it to justify or recoup our initial investment, even if it no longer makes rational sense to do so.

But to do so is to look at the past rather than the future.

In my work with CEOs, I’ve seen two types of dead plants that continue to get watered.

First, there are people. I’ve always believed you should hire slowly and fire quickly.

Harsh? Not really. If you’ve done all you can to help improve a poor performer, it’s time to let them go - for your sake and theirs.

If you allow incompetence to exist in your company, it quickly becomes noticed - and others think it’s acceptable. Nip it in the bud.

This people go wil:

1) Help them find a place that's better suited for their talents.

2) Help you hire someone who can grow with you.

3) Help your team maintain their performance.

You set a new standard every time you accept a slip in the standards.

The second dead plant I’ve seen are ideas. We have a (natural!) tendency to fall in love with our own ideas and hold onto them with a death grip.

Let go of your death grip if:

A) The market isn't responding well.

B) Resources invested outweigh potential returns.

C) Market trends have evolved away from your concept.

Prying yourself loose from ideas whose time has passed is incredibly liberating and will open your mind to new possibilities.

Sometimes, you just need some new plants.