When Business Success Starts Carrying Hidden Costs

In the early 1920s, carmakers wanted more powerful engines but struggled with knocking, while refrigerator makers sought alternatives to toxic or highly flammable chemicals. Working at General Motors, Midgley found that lead in fuel suppressed engine knocking and later helped develop Freon, then considered safer than many refrigerants in use. Both products were adopted commercially, and the American Chemical Society awarded him the Priestley Medal, its highest honor.

The costs emerged later. Leaded petrol spread toxic lead through exhaust, and scientists eventually found that chlorofluorocarbons, or CFCs, damaged the ozone layer. Midgley died in 1944, before that damage was discovered; he could not have predicted every consequence. His story nevertheless raises a question for business owners: can the approach behind success also create costs that have gone uncounted?

Habits that help a young business can become burdens as it grows. A founder’s constant availability may win customers, and keeping decisions in one person’s hands can speed up work. But those same practices can leave the founder as a bottleneck, make it harder to switch off or divert time from leading the business. Growing revenue and customer numbers can bring greater complexity, travel and demands on family life, too.

Revenue, profit and growth are easy to track; effects on health, relationships, judgment and freedom are harder to measure. To review the trade-offs, choose one part of the business that is performing well and write down what it produces, what it demands and what it displaces. Consider whether it remains sustainable as the business grows and what has changed since the original decision. Would you make the same choice today? If not, options may include delegating a decision, renegotiating a client relationship or ending work whose demands no longer justify its returns.