Dig deep to build tall
The Burj Khalifa stands 2,717 feet. Before any of it went up, 194 concrete piles were bored about 160 feet straight down.
A foundation isn’t there to hold the building up on a calm day. It’s there for the wind, and for every year after that.
Leaders want the height. A bigger team, a bigger business.
The digging is less appealing.
For a person, digging is self-analysis. Facing your own issues instead of building around them.
For a team, it’s culture. Naming the bad behavior while it’s still small enough to name.
For a business, it’s system design. The standard procedure nobody wants to write.
No one photographs the hole. The hole sets the height.