He sat there rocking back and forth like he was in a rocking chair. Hands folded over his belly, thumbs twiddling as he talked. You could tell by looking at him he had been around the block several times—it wasn’t just the years on his face, it was the calm, but knowing air about him.
“One Ah **** wipes out ten Atta Boys” he said
The comment was simple, but profound. We were talking about risk management and the impact on reputation. When something goes really wrong, it wipes out your credibility and all of the good things you’ve done before. And if you get a second chance, it takes a long time to come back to the status you held before.
How do you make sure you are thinking about risk early? And how do you make sure you don’t have one bad moment that wipes out ten good ones?