Chad Pfeifer

Every Relationship Has a Breakpoint

Posted on December 11, 2013 Updated on December 6, 2013

Every Man Has His Limitations

-Dirty Harry

A few weeks ago I went to a hipster coffee shop.

I ordered one coffee and then proceeded to wait.

And wait.

And wait.

24 minutes later, they handed me my coffee.

I know what you’re thinking, “It was probably very complicated, requiring special beans shipped in by hand and a burro.”

It wasn’t, it was one small coffee.

I knew it took 24 minutes because my receipt had a timestamp.

The problem is that every relationship and business has a breakpoint, that moment where you forever lose a customer or a follower.  If you’re a leader, that’s true of your team.   The real challenge is that someone working for you won’t tell you that they are at their breaking point.  They’ll just quit.

Will I go back to that coffee shop? Of course, but maybe another customer won’t. Maybe their breakpoint is minute 23.

Never take your teams, followers or customers to the breakpoint, that is the moment when you lose them.

It’s hard to get someone who WAS loyal back once you’ve broken the relationship.