philosophy of a nail

Because a nail is released, remove the horse's shoes;

Because shoes are released, horses fall;

Because the horse falls, the message is not sent to the front line;

Because the message was not sent, the army lost the war;

Because of losing the war, a country falls!

The string of wise sentences above is an old expression, which is said to be original from Japanese stories. Maybe you have also read in various versions. The first time I heard I was immediately impressed and then remembered. How can a nail bring down a country? How does a "trivial" thing turn out to have such big consequences?

In 1994 when Rudy Giuliani began to become mayor of New York City, crime rates in NYC were very high. In the 1994 to 2001 period, statistics showed that crime rates in NYC dropped dramatically. How did Rudy Giuliani do it? Is it by doing a large-scale criminal hunt operation for a Hollywood movie? Not. Giuliani and the NYPD police team managed to reduce the crime rate by fixing the "broken window". This is serious. This is what criminologists call the "broken windows" theory.

The assumption is this, a broken window that is allowed to give rise to the impression that a house no one has taken care of or is not inhabited. This will encourage vandalism and subsequent acts of anarchy. For example, breaking other windows, graffiti-draped walls, until finally the environment becomes a hangout hangout, and so on. This is what accumulatively makes crime rates so high. So to reduce crime must start from a small thing, like fixing the broken window earlier. According to Giuliani: "You have to pay attention to small things, otherwise they will get out of control and become much worse." Giuliani noticed the little thing, watching the "nail in the horse shoe" so as not to escape.

Successful entrepreneurs are generally also known as people who are very concerned about small things. McDonald's franchise developers Ray Kroc is famous for having an extraordinary obsession with speed and cleanliness. You can argue about McDonald 's burger taste, but anyone will be impressed by the speed of McDonald's restaurant' s service and cleanliness. Howard Schultz, the person who succeeded in developing Starbuck into the largest coffee shop in the world is also very attentive to details. Last year Schultz, as chairman, wrote his memo criticizing Starbuck executives for not paying attention to the loss of "Starbuck Experience", for example expresso machines that eliminate familiarity with customers, packaging coffee beans that prioritize freshness but eliminate aroma, to outlet designs. This year Schultz again became CEO, and we will see what the breakthrough was. Apple founder, Steve Jobs is probably the only leader of a billion-dollar technology company, which still participates in designing its own staircase designs at Apple outlets. His attention to detail that is often considered trivial is extraordinary. Until today, if you talk about Apple products, whether it's computers, iPods to iPhones, inevitably you will recognize the design is very innovative, efficient, stylish and elegant.

By realizing that small things can have a big impact, we can also begin to learn to be like Giuliani, Ray Kroc, Howard Schultz or Steve Jobs. Even if our business or organization is not as big as them. There are four simple things that we can apply:

Fix it immediately
The theory of "broken windows" is very relevant in our daily lives. Try to look at your whole house. Is there a leaky water tap but it hasn't been repaired? Are there lights that are off but have not been replaced? Has the leaky roof not been repaired? Is there a blocked drain that hasn't been cleaned yet? Etc. If according to the theory of "broken windows", such minor damage must be corrected immediately, because it can encourage greater damage. Which ends up costing more. Often the chain of damage is beyond our expectations. For example, leakage of water taps turned out to trigger damage to the water pump, damage to the water pump triggered a short circuit and the electricity went out, sudden power failure caused a refrigerator breakdown, etc. How come, how come it's smooth? This is a personal experience, hehehe ...

If in business, minor damage that is not repaired also describes the condition of your organization. Have you ever come to an office or shop where the fluorescent lights continue to flicker and are not repaired, or the ceiling ceiling has been broken but left. How do you feel? It must be very uncomfortable to be there. People will think, just fixing small things cannot, let alone want to deal with bigger things.

Create Standards
As a fan of good food, I have several favorite eating places. Some of them have become my subscriptions since I was in college. Some time ago I stopped at one of my first satay stalls. It turned out that the taste had changed greatly. I have observed that the generation that manages the shop has also changed. And the next generation apparently did not follow the standards set by the pioneers first. Just as in the "process industry", creating consistent good food is standard in both the ingredients and processes. Both make satay, but by replacing the soy sauce brand, replacing charcoal with other grills, or just adding a little baking time, the end result can be much different.

To avoid small changes that can have a big impact, standards are needed. The standard is not enough just in the mouth, but it should be documented properly, so that it can be a permanent reference. There is no need for sophisticated documentation, which is important documented work standards and can be easily communicated. Companies that have inherited their businesses are very good at this. Not only standards in the manufacture of its own products, but up to the standards of cleanliness and standards of employee behavior. All have been arranged how many times the floor has to be mopped, how many times the toilet must be cleaned etc., to how to greet customers. In some companies that are very concerned about customers, even how many times have to greet customers as names.

All involved
Ensuring that there are no "spikes released" is not just the work of one person. But it requires the involvement of all parties, from business owners to the lowest team members. "Ignorance" is the beginning of the occurrence of spikes that are released. If anyone finds damage or events beyond standard, whoever the person is, must take action immediately. "Ah just so" mentality must be discarded. Usually business owners are the most fussy party because of their great ownership. Ray Kroc during his life mopped his restaurant. I once saw the biggest travel business owner in Bandung, which has hundreds of employees, early in the morning tidying up counters. But business owners can not always be in business locations. So team members on all lines must have the same involvement.

Open to Criticism
Criticism, both from ourselves, fellow team members, especially from customers, is the best way to find out the "nails that will loose". Starbuck CEO Howard Schultz gave an excellent example of autocriticism. I have received sharp criticism from one of our clients, because the call to our support center (coincidentally) was adopted by an office boy. This is not acceptable, because the operator who receives the telephone is someone who knows the problem, and can follow up. This makes sense. This criticism is a very valuable input for us in improving the quality of our services, before the same incident makes other clients feel uncomfortable.

How about you? Is there a nail in your horse's shoe that is almost released? Come on, fix it right away.