Why can't we see the forest for the trees?

Various aspects of management in metal-distribution and fabrication businesses to achieve success, are discussed. A rule of leadership is to set the direction of the company and then communicate that goal to the employee base. The reason behind some management teams can't achieve success is that they lack through operational metrics and though they review the daily sales and margins reports but ignore the other facts such as daily cost of sales, the cost for per quote and order made. A roadblock of finding out what's really going on in an organization is those close to the CEO are constantly telling him only what he wants to hear. An environment where the boss never wants to hear the truth destroys honest communication at the middle-management level. The management, who are responsible for an organization's success, should take an active approach of walk-the-four-corners management concept and should walk the four corners of their business every day.