The Barnacles on the Hull

Richard Farmer had a favourite way of explaining costs at Cintas . He told his people to imagine a new ship entering the water. “ When a new ship is put into the water, it has a clean hull, ” Farmer explained. “ It moves fast and is highly manoeuvrable. Nothing is holding it back .” Leave it in port for a year, though, and things change. “ Barnacles accumulate on the hull. They slow the ship down,…