The first time I saw it I knew I loved it.

And I knew I had a problem.

Late last year I replaced my truck and decided that it was time to put a topper on the load bed.

When I picked it up from the installer I was in love. It looked great and was going to solve a handful of problems I had with having a truck with an open bed.

The ravens wouldn’t tear up trash during the winter and our camping gear would be better protected in the summer.

But I immediately discovered that having a topper would create a few new problems.

With an open load bed I could reach almost every part of the bed by reaching over one of the three sides. With a topper, anything that slid away from the tailgate would now require climbing into the bed and crawling around to retrieve it.

Or would it?

One day while taking some trash to the transfer station I thought, I just need a pole with a hook on it and then I wouldn’t have to climb in the bed.

Such a pole is a readily available thing called a boat hook.

For about $15 I grabbed a 4 foot boat hook that allows me to reach – and snag – almost anything rolling around the load bed. No crawling required.

Why should you care? 

Because we often think we need a massive, complex, nuanced skill upgrade to be better leaders. But the reality is that most of us just need a “boat hook” we can use over and over again.

Don’t dismiss a leadership upgrade as insignificant just because it’s a small tweak. 

Pay attention to how often that small tweak comes into play.

A small upgrade you actually use on most days is actually a tremendous improvement.

Just like the silly little boat hook that lives in my truck bed.

My free PDF, “The 5 Secrets of Impossibly Effective Teams,” will show you the simple leadership moves that help teams unlock their full potential and deliver outsized results, without burning out. Grab your copy now at geoffwelch.com/secrets