Luis was not having fun. He remembered how difficult it was for the company to make payments on the third machine.

“Management is about making resources productive. This third machine is not productive. The floor space it sits on is not productive,” I said.

“But we paid a lot of money for that machine, and our company cannot get out of its lease for this space. And what are we going to do if we need the machine?” Luis objected.

“Anyone can manage an idle machine. What are you going to do?”