A friend was recounting a story they had read recently. It was a study about a couple of kids who set up a lemonade stand with discount pricing to attract customers. Lemonade for $1. However, everything was priced individually. The cup, the straw, the lemonade, the ice, the umbrella, etc. The customer didn’t know about the pricing until the total was provided, then was shocked at the $20 glass of lemonade. The customer had no idea that for each yes, the bill would skyrocket. By the end, it was like death by a thousand cuts and the potential customer would walk away because it was just too much.
This type of situation occurs regularly in business when change is being made. Changes and requirements keep coming – so much so, that the mountain gets so high and people get overwhelmed and walk away. The trick is to make the bulk of the changes quickly and move into the new normal, avoiding death by a thousand cuts. How do you avoid death by a thousand cuts in your organization?