Rick Warren is well known for his book The Purpose Driven Life.  However, before that he wrote another book called God's Power to Change Your Life.

 

In this second book, he raises a question, "Are you a thermometer or are you a thermostat?"

Recently I was in a finance committee meeting for a board I serve on in Chicago.  The question came up as to whether the council that oversaw all committees understood numbers.  The answer that came back from the council liaison was that yes, the council was very aware of the current financial situation.

That is a good first question to ask anytime that you have an issue, "Are you aware of the problem?"  In this case the issue was that contributions were running slightly behind and what would we need to do to make sure we bring in a balanced budget for 2006. 

Back to Rick Warren's question - both a thermometer and a thermostat understand what the current temperature is, only one though makes an actual adjustment.

Understanding a problem is not enough to make change, action is needed.  Otherwise, someone is just being a thermometer.

In the case of the finance committee and council, the debate was about whether we should cut some expenses.  We already were doing a good job on many items, yet, the idea was brought up about cutting costs in another area.  The finance committee made a recommendation to cut one line item.  The council came back and rejected the idea.  So nothing was getting changed that was not already in place.

That felt like being more like a thermometer than a thermostat.  Time will tell if it is the right decision.

What does that have to do with business?  When an issue comes up, do you take action or do you just stop at understanding?  Are you a thermometer when the circumstance requires a thermostat?