When you prune a tree, you remove the dead or diseased parts so the whole tree will grow and thrive. If you don’t prune the tree, the whole tree is at risk of dying.

The same is true with businesses.

We’ve all heard the phrase “Hire slowly and Fire fast,” but most companies do the exact opposite. We're quick to hire people because we have a need and we want someone in that seat, now! When people aren’t working out though, we kick the can down the road. Fingers crossed, we plod forward trying to grow our companies with the wrong people.

Sure, the “pop-pop-fizz-fizz” of Alka-Seltzer can provide temporary relief for an upset stomach, but it can only help so much.  Usually the problem stems from eating spicy or greasy food, so if you continue to eat the wrong foods, the stomachache just keeps coming back.

Jim Collins famously admonishes all business owners and leaders in his classic book, Good To Great, “Before you begin your business journey, get all the right people on the bus, get all the wrong people off the bus and make sure that everyone on the bus is in the right seat”. Every business owner  I speak to knows this to be true. No one  disputes the logic. So why don’t more leaders act on it?

Here is a great story from Les Brown where he draws an interesting analogy.

One day, a man was walking down the street and sees a dog on a porch that was just sitting there, whimpering, whining and moaning. The man was curious as to why he was whimpering, so he went and knocked on the door and a guy came out and said, "Yes, how may I help you?" He said, "Sir, is this your dog?"