Recently I stopped by a local gas station to fill up. I stopped up the pump, got out, and was ready to swipe my card when I realized that I couldn’t read the screen to follow the “card swiping instructions” to pay for the gas. So, I hopped back in my car and pulled up to the next pump, got out ready to pay, and had the same problem. I pulled up to a third pump and this time, before getting out of the car, noticed it had a bag over the handle, fail number three. Finally, at the fourth pump, I was able to get gas and get back on the road!

I am never going back to that gas station again, it’s too difficult to get gas.

About a week later I was driving by there, remembering my lovely experience, and noticed there were men in front of the gas station working on the landscaping. I’m not a gas station maven or anything, but I’m pretty sure if a customer has trouble getting gas at your gas station, no amount of landscaping will improve your business.

They failed at the main thing, and no amount of focus on smaller things will change that. As business leaders, if we fail at the main thing, we fail, period. Focus on the main thing.