Broken Windows

When is a dirty bathroom a broken window? It is a question that today could be at the core of a business’s success or failure. Answering that question correctly and using the answer as a beacon could allow your business to dominate its competition indefinitely. Ignore the solution to the puzzle and you will be condemning your business to failure in a very short period of time. The “broken windows” theory was originally used in criminal justice terms, but the brilliance of that theory goes much further than one interpretation. It can and should be applied to business, too, and it can make a critical difference – if American businesses will simply take the time and have the courage to notice.

The idea of concentrating on seemingly petty criminal acts like graffiti or purse snatching seemed utterly absurd; How would a crackdown on jaywalking lead to a decrease in murders?

The broken window theory states that something as small and innocuous as a broken window does, in fact, send a signal to those who pass by every day. If it is left broken, the owner of the building isn’t paying attention or doesn’t care. That means more serious infractions – theft, defacement, violent crime –  might be condoned in this area as well. At best, it signals that no one is watching. This is the heart of the broken windows theory: “social psychologist and police officers tend to agree that if a window in a building is broken and left unrepaired, all the rest of the windows will soon be broken.” Why? Because the message being sent out by a broken window – the perception it invites – is that the owner of this building and the people of the community around it don’t care if this window is broken. They have given up, and anarchy reigns here. Do as you will because nobody cares.

The same theory is applicable to the world of business. If the restroom at the local McDonalds is out of toilet paper, dirty, or unkept and unsightly, it signals that management isn’t paying attention to the details – to the needs of its clientele. They either don’t care or feel it just isn’t that important. That could lead the consumer to conclude that the food at this restaurant might not be prepared adequately, that there might be health risks in coming here, or that the business simply doesn’t care or is indifferent to its customers.

Given that scenario, it is not a stretch of the imagination but in fact a point of logic to conclude that the broken window theory should be applied to business, as it was to the problems of crime in urban areas. Start to think in terms of, and how, it applies to our company. It is painfully simple: when you allow (and tolerate) the easy, the small, the supposedly unimportant items to go unaddressed – dirty vehicles, trash in the cabs of equipment and vehicles, broken or missing tools, a worn tire, a dead battery, sloppiness in work, tardiness… the list could go on and on – what does that say about both individuals and management in general? Where is the pride and sense of satisfaction in “doing the little things right”? As in the broken window theory, if we don’t address (meaning fix) the little things, how can we ever expect greatness and pride to be the standard of Bestifor? How can Quality is our Legacy have true meaning and not just become another catchy slogan?

Small things make a big difference. The time to repair the broken windows is at the minute they occur, because if we don’t care about this (a small item), why should we care about that (a much larger item)? Leaving broken windows send a message to all – it doesn’t matter, we don’t care.
-Some excerpts from the book Broken Windows, Broken Business by Michael Levine

• Constant vigilance, an absolute obsession with details, is essential to running a business today.
• If you’re not obsessed with the details of your business, there will be someone who is obsessed with his, and he will see to it that he overruns you.
• While in personal life OCD is a challenge, in business, obsession and compulsion are good things. In fact, they are necessary.
• It is important to have a driving, obsessive fixation on your business, and a compulsion to see everything done in the right way every single time.
• You must feel personally affronted if something goes wrong with your business. And that “something” can be anything.
• Nothing is small, and absolutely nothing is insignificant.
• It’s not enough to be concerned about your business; it’s not enough to be interested in its success. You have to be obsessed, or you are inviting disaster.
• If you’re not lying in bed at night trying to think of ways to improve business, to serve your customers better, and to fix broken windows you have, or will have soon, you are not doing your job properly.
• Obsession is not just a line of perfume – it’s a tool, and a valuable one. Without it, you will be at a disadvantage.
• It seems like the most basic, simplest rule a business could have:  exceed expectations
• If you have a burning, maniacal, raging obsession about the details, that is what will set you apart from the competition.
• There are two speeds in today’s business climate: fast and dead. Let’s choose the former over the latter.