Times are tough. You’ve been in the process of negotiating a business merger that has fallen through. Why? You lost an expensive lawsuit that cost you a hundred grand, which made your business less appealing. In addition, your supplier discontinued production of your customers’ favorite item, which resulted in 25 percent higher priced purchases from another supplier, thus detracting from appeal. And...the cost of your leased building space went up 50 percent, which sealed the deal.
One small blow wouldn’t have broken you, but the combination of all these factors killed the merger. One little fail. After another little fail. After another. That’s death by 1,000 cuts, a term based on a nasty form of ancient Chinese torture.