I met a family business owner in the Philippines who was proud of his “stable” company. Two percent net profit, year after year. Sounds okay, right? Until I showed him the math: because his margin was deeply below average, he’d missed out on $1.2 million in potential profit over three years.

I want to tell you about a midsize business owner drowning in consultants. He kept hiring them, one after another, each promising to turn things around. They’d show up, drop off a fancy report, and disappear.