Leading on the Edge: Extraordinary Stories and Leadership Insights from The World's Most Extreme Workplace

Chapter 27      

Take care of the little things

Have you ever put the lid on a simmering pot of pasta only to have it boil up all over the stove? Our station was just like a pot of boiling water with the lid on. Without regular maintenance to check the state of affairs small niggles built and built, until they exploded. It can be the same in any workplace or family.

The bacon war

Friday 13th May

An interesting thing I'm finding out down here. We have much emphasis on tolerance and harmony because we simply HAVE to live together. But it can go too far. Things that bug us get ignored and we are under pressure to ignore them. But eventually it builds up to a point where you can't ignore it any longer. By then it's hard to raise the issue because it's been going on for so long it seems silly or trivial to talk about it now. It's difficult to know when a niggle will turn into a full-scale pain — until it happens.

We had a situation that I call ‘the bacon war’. Trouble had been brewing and the station was under siege from a nasty but powerful blight that was pervading and undermining our happy little community. Like most insidious attacks, it was happening right under our noses and simmered for months before reaching its inescapable boiling point.

I was sitting in my office planning the resupply for November. There was a lot to think about. One question that was plaguing me was how to ...