There is a mantra in a lot of businesses that focuses on, "tackling the low hanging fruit". In the company conversations I have been privy to, the catch phrases that proliferate are ones like, "quick wins", "move the dial", "raise the bar" - you've heard it too if you've been there. So here's the problem, there are some deep lying flaws to this approach that cause companies and good people who truly want to move the organization in good directions to endlessly chase their tails.
The first and most debilitating flaw to this way of thinking is that most if not all of the low hanging fruit does not address the root of the problem. Low hanging fruit, or symptomatic problems, arise from much deeper issues. So the challenge for organizations is to not get caught up in the busy work of low hanging fruit and to step back and truly think deeply and communicate effectively to uncover the true challenges that lie at the root of these symptomatic issues.
The second, and most personally debilitating flaw, for individuals involved in chasing low hanging fruit, is that these individuals get a false sense of success and accomplishments that feeds a career path based on wrong thinking. Companies that have leadership teams who think that low hanging fruit is the be all and end all, become companies who continually feel the need to tighten their control over their people because they have failed to let go of their limited thinking and to look for the root causes of their challenges. Fault finding and blaming is the child of flawed thinking.
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