In a bustling city, a bridge collapsed under heavy carts. The mayor blamed the wood, the builders, and the weather. An old engineer shook his head: “It wasn’t the weight that broke it—it was the small cracks ignored for years.”
Among the onlookers was a young merchant. The words stayed with him.
Years later, as a leader, he found himself in meetings where everyone tried to brush aside small grievances and minor errors. He remembered the bridge.
It wasn’t the big crises that threatened his team, but the quiet fractures left unattended. And so, he began listening more carefully—mending cracks before they ever grew into collapse.