That's the trouble with government: Fixing things that aren't broken and not fixing things that are broken.
Bert “Broken” Lance
My first job out of college had me traveling around the country to teach learning skills at various schools. For one gig I drove to a little town in Virginia named for the Powhatan, the local Algonquins. Pocahontas was a Powhatan. (Wasn’t it nice of folks to honor the people who had been pushed out by naming a rural outpost after them?)
There were some issues with the precise pronunciation of the town’s name. The townsfolk tended to slur the three syllables into two, which I tried in my Yankified way: POW-tan. After being corrected several times, I finally threw caution to the wind and twanged up my pronunciation to sound like them—PAOW-taan—and that did the trick.
After conquering the town’s name, my next challenge was comparatively slight. The left turn signal on my ‘78 Impala was blinking slowly, very slowly. Click … click … click, as opposed to the normal click-click-click. According to the repair manual, I needed to replace a relay in the fuse box under the dashboard.
A local saw me working on the car and asked what was wrong. When I explained the click … click … click versus the click-click-click, he wondered, “So it still works, right?”
“Well, yes, sort of,” I replied.
He then responded with a bit of cornpone that was new to me, drawling, “Well, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” I chuckled at the pleasantry and went right on fixing what was not broke. After all, “ain't broke” doesn't mean “couldn't be better.”
In the decades since, I have heard the same saying claimed by many as the folk wisdom of their particular region. I have met Southerners who declared it a down-home Southernism. I have known Midwesterners who hailed it as an example of heartland perspicuity. Some Vermonters tout it as a flinty New England witticism. I once even heard a Brit on the radio introduce it as an ancient English maxim.
It turns out that the phrase’s homespun authenticity is dubious at best, with clear origins only going back to the 1970’s. In other words, it is not some rural proverb whose wisdom has been tested through the generations. Indeed, it is a faux folksy bromide popularized by one Bert Lance, a corrupt official in the Carter Administration.
But let’s face it, while the saying evokes the imaginary “good ol’ days” when everything just seemed to work better, it is as fallacious as nostalgia. Yes, I could have left my car blinker unfixed, festering in a state between fully broke and ain’t broke. Instead I opted to spend a couple bucks and exert some minor effort to make it work perfectly again.
If the Horse Ain’t Broke
That was 1987, and in case that was not historic enough for you, let’s go back a bit further to grasp the fuller implications of “if it ain’t broke.” For millennia, humans relied on their feet or on animals to carry them and their luggage about. However odd that seems to us now, it was just the way it was. No one thought that the transportation system that existed was broken because, in fact, it was not. People did not go on to invent steam engines and locomotives and cars because equine and pedal transportation was broken. They did so because it could be improve upon.
“If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” sounds eminently reasonable at first, but it’s a reactive approach, a recipe for stagnation and for the status quo. If it breaks, then fix it, return it to its previous state. Otherwise don’t bother with it at all. In some industries, this model has its own name: “break/fix.” The break/fix model may be good enough to get you through the next quarter, but it probably won’t help you surpass your competitors over the course of a year.
If we were to heed this pseudo-colloquialism literally, we would never explore. We would never seek improvement or pursue new possibilities. No one would have invented the steamboat or trains and certainly not the automobile. And speaking of automobiles, I would have never replaced the stupid relay that was driving me nuts by making the turn signal go click … click … click instead of click-click-click.
By the way, don’t confuse “if it ain’t broke” with another saying: “don’t mess with success,” which is a far more sensible notion and has the added advantage of rhyming. “Don’t mess with success” is all about not forcing change just for the sake of change, which is what “if it ain’t broke” was probably originally aiming for but missed by a wide margin. Fixing something that isn't broken but can be improved is the essence of progress.
The Saga of Gloorp
Let me set a scene for you.
A caveman wields his simple stone tools to smooth a segment of tree trunk so that it will roll easily. His buddy approaches and in the grunts that comprise their common tongue offers a query. In the off-chance you don’t understand caveman Gruntese, I will translate: “By golly, my dear Gloorp, what are you on about there?”
Gloorp looks up from his invention and proudly explains how his wheel—humanity’s very first—will efficiently roll across the countryside, helping transport people and goods while sparing their feet. “We will be able to convey larger loads further,” Gloorp excitedly tells his friend.
“Why, Gloorp,” his friend furrows his already prominent brow, “Conveying parcels across the landscape is strenuous enough as it is, don’t you think? Who would ever endeavor to increase such burdens?”
Gloorp is flummoxed by his friend’s question.
“Say, Gloorp,” his friend continues, “My great grandpapa once spoke a quaint aphorism that just might befit this moment: ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.’”
Instantly Gloorp is overwhelmed by the manifest truth of this sage observation. He declares, “By gum, Sebastian, you’re dead right!” The two friends immediately set about smashing Gloorp’s primitive wheel into kindling and adding it to their already hefty burdens of firewood, which they will haul on their backs on the long trek to their cave homes.
And in that moment, humanity’s fate is sealed, with the lack of wheels assuring two things: that I would never need to fix my blinker and that the Fast and Furious movie franchise would never be born.
Let's not shackle ourselves with the limitations of "if it ain't broke." Embrace innovation, seek improvement, and don't shy away from fixing what's not actually broken but could clearly be better. After all, the possibilities that lie beyond just “good enough” may be the most transporting discoveries of all!
How often do you evoke the spirit of “if it ain’t broke?” What are the consequences of doing so?
Leaders must develop strategies to assess opportunities for innovation, and I can help.
If you want to learn more about how to become a great leader in this world of bad bosses, visit GuidanceForGreatness.com.
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