The fascinating thing is that this is the norm in business, not the exception.

You may think, how can that be? Wouldn't that cause companies to go out of business all the time?

Guess what, companies go out of business all the time. Most companies are fairly short lived, and a lot of the reason why is because they live in a fantasy land instead of concentrating on the fundamentals. Another fascinating thing you'll find is folks who have the knack of turning businesses around. There are plenty of reality TV shows about this sort of thing too. However, in almost every case turning around a business is mostly a process of concentrating on fundamentals and making pragmatic choices.