APPARENTLY, if you put a frog into a pot filled with water and start heating the water, as the temperature of the water begins to rise, the frog adjust its body temperature accordingly.
The frog will continue adjusting its body temperature with the increasing temperature of the water.
Just when the water is about to reach boiling point, the frog cannot adjust anymore. At this point the frog decides to jump out.
The frog tries to jump but it is unable to do so because it has lost all its strength in adjusting with the rising water temperature. Very soon the frog dies.
What killed the frog? Think about it.
Many of us will say the boiling water. But what actually killed the frog was its own inability to decide when to jump out.
We all need to adjust with people and situations at some time or another, but we need to understand when we need to adjust and when we need to move on.
There are times when we need to face the situation and take appropriate actions before it is too late.
If we allow people to exploit us physically, emotionally, financially, spiritually or mentally they will continue to do so.
It’s one of the unfortunate traits of humans.
Therefore, it is essential that we are able to decide when to jump, that is, let's jump while we still have the strength.
How hot are you making the water for your suppliers in the name of cost efficiency and value creation?
Will they survive, die, or jump and can you really survive yourself without them there as part of your supply chain?
Merely moving on to the next frog will eventually kill off all your frogs.
Or even worse, the remaining frogs will become wise to you and simply refuse to climb into the pot at all.
As more and more suppliers go to the wall or numbers are reduced through merger or acquisition, the day is coming when demand will once again be higher than supply and surviving suppliers will choose to work with customers who truly recognise the difference between cost efficiency and price cutting.
We are all in some degree of hot water just now.
The secret to survival - which in turn will allow us all to recover and then adapt to our new environment - is steady, consistent and manageable temperature control.
Also, avoid keeping all your frogs in the same pot, because every now and then you may lose a couple because you’ve neglected to calibrate or pay attention to your temperature gauge, especially if you think that continual heat increases will make them more effective or save you money.
- No frogs were harmed in the making of this post.