Trimming the Roast

POLICIES VS. PERKS

I heard a story years ago about a young bride who made a roast for her new husband. She carefully put in the meat, the carrots, the potatoes, onions and seasoning.  Just before sticking the pan in her oven she cut both ends off the roast.  

Her husband had never seen this practice and asked her why?  She answered confidently, "It tastes better.  Besides, that's the way my momma taught me to make it."  Curious, he asked his mother-in-law a few days later why she taught his wife to prepare a roast that way.

She answered that she thought it tasted better and her mother had always cut the ends off the roast and that is how she was taught.  Now this became an obsession. So several weeks later, while visiting the grandmother, the couple asked her why she always taught to cut the ends off the roast before putting it in the oven.

"Why darling, I had to do that.  My oven was too small for a big roast to fit in."

Three generations were practicing a tradition, but only one had a practical reason for repeating it.  They had even come up with a myth to justify the tradition, based on their subjective feelings, rather than the facts.

Here is what we learn from cutting the ends off the roast in our lives and businesses:

1. There is a reason for every tradition.
2. The way you did it then isn't the way it needs to be done now.
3. The myth for why you perform actions is more subjective than factual.
4. No one questions actions if they don't know the reason.
5. Failure to adapt to current situations, your strategy will be obsolete... and useless.
6. Asking questions is a great way to evaluate your results.