One of my favourite quotes I often use in my conversations with business owners is one by Edmund Burke, the 18th century philosopher, who remarked:

“Those who don’t know history are doomed to repeat it”

I use this quote to demonstrate to business owners that the answers to the challenges they are facing can be found in what has happened in their past personal and business lives. However, as the quote implies, have they learned the lesson from that history? If they have not, they will be destined to repeat the mistakes of the past.

The importance of learning lessons from the past was never more evident than during a recent conversation with a business owner who was exhausted and close to burning out. During our conversation it became clear he was passionate about providing advice in his specialist space on large complex projects. Not only was he passionate about such projects, but the contractors were also prepared to reward him for his expertise rather than having a debate about the prices they would be charged.

The owner went on to explain that on one such project about four years ago there was a “bust-up” with the main contractor. He was having to work long additional hours to finish the project and by the end of it he was burnt out. At that time, he vowed to avoid such burnout by working on less complex, smaller projects.

Fast forward four years. The owner is working on more projects, with an increased number of contractors with most of those projects being price and time sensitive. As a result, he is choosing to work increased hours which is leading to less time with the family and feeling exhausted and close to burnout.

In response, I challenged him that he had asked the wrong question four years ago. The question he asked was “How can I avoid burning out again?” with the answer being to move to smaller projects.  Instead he should have asked: “What do I need to invest in my business to prevent this happening again?”

When we explored this reframed question, the answers became clear with the owner committing to:

• Investing in the existing project management systems to prevent scope creep and to give the team access to that system
• Expanding the team with whom he can share the workload
• Establishing clear boundaries around working hours
• Sourcing larger, more complex projects, which generally are less price and time sensitive

The irony? By trying to avoid the problem through smaller projects, the owner created a different version of the same problem – exhaustion from juggling too many clients, none of whom valued his expertise enough to pay premium rates.

My message to business owners is that history does not have to repeat itself if they are willing to ask better questions and learn the right lessons from the past.  More often than not, the answer is not to change direction – it is to build stronger foundations that will allow the business to stay on the path they are most passionate about.