Are You Watching for Hurricanes or Termites?

In a typical year, termites destroy far more homes than hurricanes even though the latter gets all the news. The dramatic and violent destruction of a hurricane demands our immediate attention while the gradual devastation of thousands of tiny termites will go unnoticed until it is too late to do anything about it. Also, the storm hits a large population, often banding them together as they brace themselves against a foe. But the termites attack isolated victims, often invisible to the rest of the world.

Such is life. The vigilant among us are always on the lookout for the hurricanes, but too often we can miss the termites as they quietly devour unnoticed. Both development and destruction are often slow, gradual processes. Everyone remembers the climactic collapses of companies like Enron and Bear Sterns, but for many companies, like Kodak, Nokia, Sears, K-Mart, Toys-R-Us, Blockbuster Etc, it was a gradual decline that, in some cases, spanned decades because no one noticed the termites. They became crippled, not because of outside forces beyond their control, but because of the deterioration on the inside that everyone ignored. Once great companies, they are now obsolete or extinct.

You must be on the lookout for the little cracks and crevices in your life, the gaps that let in the termites. The signs are there, but are often missed because they seem insignificant in the moment so we ignore them. Even the deepest declines start with a small slide. I think King Solomon was mindful of this as he penned the words, “A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest; so shall your poverty come like a prowler, and your need like an armed man.”

The biggest successes often start small, but so do the most catastrophic failures. Kill off the termites.

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