Red, blue, yellow. The primary colors. You can combine them to make every other color in the spectrum…very cool.
It’s my impression that everything in life comes down to basic things. Even the most perplexing. Thoughts. Emotions. Human nature. Writers, musicians, poets, politicians, clerics… throughout the ages, all have been fixated on primary things.
Human nature can be analyzed with these same primary colors, especially behavior change. No one likes it. It doesn’t feel good and it’s hard to do – at any age. Oh, people may say they’ll do things differently but very often that’s not the case. Consider the weight loss industry; they certainly know how to capitalize on repeated attempts at behavior change. It’s their bread and butter. (Pun intended.) The flood of weight loss remedies continues unabated. And every new year…the recurring avalanche of weight loss resolutions.
Sometimes aversion to change can have health consequences, sometimes marriages suffer…as well as relationships with friends and family. Sometimes it can affect a business. That’s my day-job obsession. Entrepreneurs who are at the helm and set the course.
Can anyone explain the basic impediments that stop a business owner from taking the time to plan and protect the years of hard work and sacrifice? As important as this is to everyone concerned, few take the time to safeguard their most valuable asset. Why? Primary colors.
Red. Business owners do not want to change anything in their daily routine. As easy – or hard – as running the company may be at any given time, the general behavior clearly indicates there’s no reason to do anything differently. What they did yesterday is good for today. They know how they got “there”. They’re always in control (supposedly) and nobody is going to tell them what to do next. It’s a hard stop.
Blue. These folks are cold and unapproachable when it comes to planning, never warming up to an new/unfamiliar/uncomfortable topic. “If I don’t want to hear about it (It being insurance, exit planning, succession planning, key man, disability, estate planning, tax strategies, buy-sells…), it’s not important. I have a company to run and I’ll be here tomorrow – as usual – to run it.”
Yellow. They’re downright afraid to identify problems. Even if they’re aware of the issues, they don’t want to validate them. “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” Or the other siren songs inside their head. “That’ll never happen to me.” “There’s plenty of time for that.” (Dangerous, mermaid-like chants, and many a sailor has been shipwrecked.)
Primary colors are ubiquitous. Unfortunately, the colors can create a rainbow of trouble in a company when they are unexpectedly forced together.
The biggest box of Crayola Crayons has 120, not including specialty colors.
Yes, some boxes still have a built-in sharpener but none have an eraser.
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