Ours was a great idea. As residents and business owners in the Caribbean, we had identified a niche market and determined to fill it. We formed a business partnership for a small manufacturing company. For a short time it went OK. Then we processed our first large order and delivered the product.

I was the salesman for the company. My partner was in charge of production. The client telephoned asking me to come and look at what had been delivered. I went out to the job site to inspect the product.

It was not good.

I brought back one piece to show my partner and the production team. I set it on a bench and gathered them around. Then came the first hint of trouble.

“What’s wrong with it?” asked the man who had made the product.

“If you can’t see what’s wrong with it, that’s the first and biggest problem.” I replied.

Then my partner, the man in charge of production, nailed the lid on the coffin. “We can’t make them any better,” he claimed.

“Then we can’t be in this business,” I said.

What I “saw” in terms of the company’s quality and service was not what the others saw. They were content to produce products of below-average quality. I was not.

 …