What Do You Do When it All Falls Down?

12 August 2026

 

I have a neighbour whose neighbour is building a house on a piece of open land.

A few days ago, my neighbour and I went to have a look. He’s a construction engineer. Looking down at the foundations and shook his head.

I asked him what was wrong.

"Whoever threw this foundation hasn't followed the fundamentals of building a foundation." He said angrily.

I found that phrase very interesting – “The fundamentals of building a foundation”, so I asked him what he meant.

He explained that the foundation doesn't simply hold the building up. It determines how well the building will serve the people who occupy it.

That got me thinking. Isn't business much the same?

We spend enormous amounts of time and money developing people.

For example, we send managers on management training where we teach them skills, techniques and strategies. But what happens when we're building those skills on an inadequate foundation?

What happens when we teach a manager how to manage before we've established whether they know and apply the fundamentals of management?

Maybe we're building the walls before we've properly laid the foundation.

And I think there's an important distinction here - before we teach someone how to manage, maybe we should first make sure that they know and apply the fundamentals of management.

Because a strong management technique built on a weak management foundation is a weak management technique, no matter how profound it may seem.

And when it all falls down, the first question shouldn't be:
"What went wrong?"

It should be:
"What did we build it on?"

 

If you would like to talk to me, please call me on +27 82 465 5481 or email me on mark@meritbusiness.com

 

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