Don’t Be a Tub Tipper!

“Every tub has to sit on its own bottom…”

Failure. Looking weak. Appearing foolish. Being embarrassed. Showing vulnerability.

None of these are openly sought or embraced. No one desires to experience the effects of a failure or vulnerable moment. Nonetheless, anyone who has truly experienced life has also experienced failure, vulnerability, and the fragility of being human. These are what I consider “a necessary part of life.”

“Necessary?!?,” you quietly and inquisitively repeat to yourself. Why would these painful and undesirable things be necessary? I insist they are necessary because of the lasting effect they have on each of us if we accept, examine, and persevere through them. Suffering and failure are incredible teachers. They teach us to be humble. They teach us to find the “silver lining” in the seeming disaster. They teach us to learn from our mistakes and that mistakes are valuable if they propel us to nobler endeavors.

Parenting is an area to which humbling happens often as it is a tricky balance of guiding, nurturing, and protecting. Guiding and nurturing allows children to experience life’s natural dangers and exhilarations, while keeping them from anything fatal. If too much emphasis is put on protecting, parents turn into either “helicopter parents” (always around making sure their kids never get into anything they don’t approve of) or “bulldozer parents” (not letting kids make their own way, instead the parents removing every possible obstacle or difficulty the kids might encounter before they encounter it).

Both parenting styles don’t allow kids to become their own person and “stand on their own two feet.” Instead, parents tip their own tub to fill that of their child, instead of letting their child’s tub sit on its own bottom and be filled by the child himself.

Bringing this back to business: Successful businesses (the parent organization) acquiring a new business (now their adopted child) have this same temptation. The temptation to “tip their tub,” which has been successful, and fill that of their newly acquired child. This is done for a variety of reasons, but most often to prove, through the apparent success of the new acquisition (which has been filled/propped up/funded by the parent organization behind the scenes), that the acquisition was a good business decision and has benefited both the parent organization and the new acquisition.

At first, filling the child’s tub may seem like a good idea. Both businesses may think that the parent organization is simply creating efficiencies and sharing resources (both of which are great advantages of a healthy acquisition). However, a deeper look at the numbers and strategic decisions show that the parent organization is compensating for the inherent weaknesses and instability of the acquisition. It is filling the tub of the acquisition in order to prop it up. This type of resource allocation amounts to “stealing from Peter to pay Paul,” and will ultimately result in one of the two organizations failing.

It is extremely important that “every tub sits on its own bottom…and is filled up as it goes.” If an acquisition is a good business decision, then at some point it will be able to sit on its own bottom – be able to not only self-sustain but become profitable. Weisbeck Consulting is extremely passionate about helping businesses streamline their operations and figure out the key to scalable, sustainable growth. Any project engaged by Weisbeck Consulting necessarily includes a sustainability component – teaching your team and staff how to maintain and sustain the recommendations and implemented changes

If something can’t be sustained, it often shouldn’t be undertaken. Your tub has to sit on its own bottom!