10/14/2026
I Crushed My Coffee with a Log. Here’s What It Taught Me About Growth.
Over the weekend I was traveling, and the coffee grinder quit. No grinder, no problem, right? I had a Leatherman.
Day 1: I went at the beans one at a time with the Leatherman. It was slow, loud, and a little undignified. A good ten minutes in, I had about two sips’ worth of coffee and a serious reconsideration of my life choices.
Day 2: I got smarter. Two Ziploc bags, beans in the middle, and a piece of wood from the woodpile. Faster, better, and a real upgrade. I’m told it still looked ridiculous.
Then it hit me: this was a leadership lesson with a caffeine problem.
The Law of Pain: Good management of bad experiences leads to great growth. A dead grinder is a bad experience. But the morning I was most annoyed was the morning I was most creative.
The Law of Awareness: I had to know where I was before I could improve. “This Leatherman method is not working” is a leadership insight. Many teams keep crushing one bean at a time and calling it a process.
The Law of Design: Growth doesn’t happen by accident. It happens when you build a better strategy. Day 2 wasn’t harder work. It was a better design. Same beans, same me, smarter method.
Here’s the question I keep coming back to: where in your business are you still using the Leatherman?
Where are you grinding it out one bean at a time, working hard but not working smart, and calling the sweat “dedication”?
You don’t always need a new grinder. Sometimes you just need to stop, look at the woodpile, and ask, “What do I already have that could work better?”
👉 Build a better design with a group. Register for the 15 Laws of Growth Mastermind:
https://go.mccoyleadership.com/15-laws-mastermind-registration-page
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a new coffee grinder to buy. 😄
What’s your “Leatherman moment”? Tell me in the comments.
