A Spiderweb Is Only As Good As Its Center

Hey there!

Early Fall is here. Pumpkin Spice is in the air (whether you like it or not) and Spirit Halloween stores are popping up in vacant storefronts across the country.

And it got me thinking a little bit about the upcoming "spookiest" time of year.

One of the most time-honored decorations of Halloween has to be the spiderweb. There's just something eerie about a sticky structure that is meant to draw in a spider's prey.

I mean - look at this close-up picture. 👇👇

The entire structure of the spiderweb is to give the spider the power to catch and control everything around it. That menacing center is often seen as the place the spider hangs out at - only to go and grab its latest victim and "take care of it."

Why Am I Telling You About Spiderwebs?

I bet you were asking yourself this. It's ok. But stick with me (but not in a yucky spiderwebby kind of way).

When I think of spiderwebs, I often think of the business structure our family homebuilding business had. And it's one I see a lot of businesses have.

The business revolves around one main central person. In my case, it was my father.

Everything that happened had to be run by him first. He wasn't a tyrant by any means (and, believe me, I've seen companies who WERE run by a tyrant). He just was the entrepreneur that many self-made business owners are.

He built his company from scratch. The rest of us jumped on at some point during the growth.

So - as the business grew - he remained at the center of it all. Every part of that "web" pointed back to him in the center.

What's The Problem With That?

The problem with this type of business structure is that it can really hinder the growth and/or ultimate success of a company.

Legend or not, one person can only do so much.

And - when something happens to that ONE person - there is no real infrastructure or plan to hold itself up.

Think about that spiderweb and what happens if the center of it goes away. There's nothing for all those web lines to connect to.

Oh - those web lines will try to hold on. They'll grasp onto the leaf, tree, etc. that they were attached to.

In the end, though, they are just flailing about in the wind. And they end up failing.

I learned this the hard way. But you don't need to.

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Now that I bummed you out, the real question is: What are you going to do about it?

If you find yourself leading (or part of) a homebuilding business where all seems to point to one central figure, it's time to have a serious talk about a better way to do things.

There are several resources out there to help you put a good company structure in place.

It often takes someone from outside the organization to really talk through and plan this out. It gets the egos out of the picture and helps your Team focus on building an organization that can thrive and survive most anything.

Don't delay on this. Work on this sooner than later.

Happy Building!

-Brad

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