Are most people willing to die rather than change?

The most recent issue of "Fast Company" magazine pointed out that nine out of ten people would die rather than make simple changes. It went on to say that
Bain & Co had found that in a study of 21 successful turnarounds, they had succeeeded by replacing most of top management.

London cabbies have overdeveloped hippocampuses to ma nage the complex geographical knowledge required and flutists have very developed parts of the brain which control fingers, lips and tongue. So do businesspeople have overdeveloped parts of the brain to do what they need to do. When the need changes, the people don't.

Similarly, Otto Rohwedder spent 16 years with strong opposition to perfect sliced bread. The inventors of frozen food, the revolver, Monopoly and the windshield wiper, each had to fight against strong opposition to achieve success. As the environment changes more rapidly, but we live and owrk longer, the need to develop a curiosiy and drive for learning becomes more important. People have to learn and change continually.

Are the people who talk to customers motivated correctly?

So often the people who are in most contact with the customer in companies are not motivated to satisfy, never mind delight, the customer. We see this frequently in the front office staff of medical businesses. The employees there see the doctor or hospital as being at the top of the pyramid and the patient at the bottom. They see themselves as representatives of the doctor, so feel no compunction in talking down to the patient as though they are the unworthy supplicant, rather than the customer and as such, the boss.

Recently, in three seperate incidents, I encountered receptionists who were rude rather than helpful, and expected the patient to plead and go through major inconvenience without complaint to see the doctor. Of course, this could not happen in regular commercial enterprise - or could it?

How long does it take for a company to die?

In the recent demise of Rover MG in the UK, some may forget that just one of its predecessor companies was once the third largest car company in the world. Companies are born, grow to maturity and die much like humans. Companies start to die far before others recognize their trajectory. It is becoming clear that Ford and GM are well along in that process. When did it begin? It started for both quite a few years ago. Similarly, there are other companies which have started the process of dying even as Wall Street lauds their performance. We can be fairly sure that any of the Fortune 500 will not be around in ten years, and most will not be around in twenty or so.

Yet companies do not have to die. Procter & Gamble is over 175 years old. It never rests on its laurels and constantly questions and re-invents itself. Others can do this, but rarely does the culture at the top encourage this.

Are we trying to make ourselves average?

Most of us realize that PowerPoint makes innovative thinking seem less innovative, and poor thinking look better. However, it is becoming normal to use Powerpoint to present the most mundane or earth shattering ideas using PowerPoint. Einstein's Theory of Relativity would have been poorly represented in PowerPoint.

This is not meant to criticize PowerPoint. Used appropriately, it is a strong tool. However, many people have slipped into poor habits, and a 100 page PowerPoint presentation, with wonderful graphics does not substitute for real insightful thoughts on the back of a napkin.

Are "nice" people always really nice?

We all know the "nice" person who is always ingratiating, says nice things and is always pleasant. Now perhaps the person is exactly what they seem. Howver, all too often they are actually cowards. Too frightened to risk confrontation, they tell people what they want to hear and then behind their backs act differently. These are the people who cannot tell a subordinate he or she is performing poorly until they fire them. This is the person who "strings along" a supplier and then won't return their phone calls. This person will tell someone they love them, but then disappears and says nothing. So be careful to differentiate between the genuinely decent person and the coward.

Lots of Opportunity for misunderstanding

We each have to deal with others. whether it be in business or in out personal lives, we soon learn that we can not alwsys take others at face value. So what you see is not alwsys what you get. Being accurate at this is critical, because just as we can be fooled by someone who does not mean well, so we can fail to value someone who should be. Recently, in my life, I was faced with the fact that in juxtaposition, someone who meant me harm had been positioned as meaning well, while I had come to be suspicious of someone else who mesnt me nothing but well. Some people feel no compunction about manipulating a situation, while others never will. While this has been the raw material for farce for many years, in real life the results can be sad.