Sometimes progress means letting a few things stay broken — for now.

Every parade has a guy sweeping up behind the elephants.

That’s how one of my clients described himself — and he wasn’t wrong.
He’s the kind of leader who sees the mess, takes responsibility for it, and dives right in with the broom.

But here’s the challenge:
When you’re always sweeping, you’re never leading.

In our coaching call, I watched this dynamic play out in real time.

He and his wife (both deeply involved in the business) had completely different instincts.
One was zoomed out, celebrating progress.
The other was zoomed in, frustrated by recurring errors.

And you know what? They were both right.

The big picture looked great.
The little picture needed work.

And that’s the tension:
Do we fix the 1% error rate or celebrate the 99% win?

The answer? Yes. You do both.
But you don’t do them the same way.

Here’s the system I recommend:

Log the issues, but don’t stop the machine.
Not every mistake needs to be solved right now. Capture it, categorize it, and keep the wheels turning.

Turn repeated errors into training.
If it’s happened more than once, build a lesson around it. A checklist, a mini SOP, a screenshot walkthrough.

Celebrate big wins out loud. Fix small problems quietly.
You need momentum more than you need perfection. Keep the team focused on the forward motion, even while you refine in the background.

When you are in Leadership you aren’t the cleanup crew.
You are building a business that gets better as it grows.

That means knowing when to sweep…
…and when to let the parade march on.