We all know that doing business today is differs dramatically from even a few years ago. In spite of what might seem so obvious, many of us keep clinging to a familiar past with nothing less than stubborn tenacity. Although it’s easy to spot others who have fallen behind, it takes almost desperate determination to drown out the noxious notion that we might be out of sync.
We’re out of luck, however; there’s no more wiggle-room. There’s no pleading for a second chance. Today, we’re playing for keeps. Although we laud team effort, it becomes clear that individual players are expendable.
Even if we’re good at what we do, we might be undermining ourselves without even knowing it. More often than not, it’s not the big stuff that sinks us. It’s the little telltale things that silently add up until there comes a tipping point - and then it’s all over. Most of the time, we can’t figure out what happened. It wasn’t someone else who had it in for us; we did ourselves in.
Before saying, “No one needs such a dark dose of pessimism,” consider seven thoughts that might help explain how our wounds are self-inflicted:
1. Little words. Big story. One business owner makes it a practice to ask job applicants to include a cover letter when submitting a resume. “I want to see how many times they use such words as 'I,’ 'me’ or 'my,’” he says. “If these pronouns jump off the page, this person might lack self-awareness and quite possibly self-confidence.”
If you’re scratching your head and wondering if such an idea is totally off the wall (and even unfair), don’t be too sure. What the business owner came upon almost intuitively, James W. Pennebaker of the University of Texas at Austin, arrived at through research, presented in his book, The Secret Life of Pronouns.
It might be more productive to tune out the big content words (jargon, in particular) and pay closer attention to the “little words.” They might be telling us a “big” story. Just think of the times you’ve read letters littered with” I,” “me,” and “my.” What do they say about the writer?
2. Inferred incompetence. If you need a test to identify incompetence, here’s a quick one. Ask someone to prepare a report, develop a meeting agenda, arrange a meeting, or write a letter. You’re pleased they embrace the task with interest and enthusiasm (which is what you want to hear, of course).
“I’ll have it for you tomorrow,” they tell you- and that’s the end. Whatever the agreed-upon schedule, nothing happens. Even two, three, or more nudges fail to get a response. Tomorrow never comes.
Eventually, it becomes clear that nothing is going to happen. This is a classic case of “inferred incompetence,” based on performance failure. It’s the perfect way to skewer your own future.
3. Optimism’s false positive. Entrepreneurs and salespeople shun negative thoughts faster than they do a skunk on the loose.
As far as they’re concerned, it’s always a “done deal,” even though the buyer hasn’t said yes or signed the order. Optimism keeps them going. They live on the upside. Unfortunately, this is only part of the story.
In describing a new product, the company official said, “Everyone will want it. This will be the biggest thing that ever happened to us.” Unfortunately, this claim is no more than a poof of dust. Things went downhill from there.
In a study reported in The Journal of Experimental Social Psychology (July 2011), researchers Heather Barry Kappes and Gabrielle Oettingen pointed out that fantasizing about something highly positive, such as “hitting the numbers,” closing a huge account, or reaching a particular goal can make us feel that we have actually done it. When this happens, we tend to relax, let up and back off.
The study suggests that too big a dose of optimism causes us to blank out the hurdles we need to face if we’re to reach the goal.
4. Blinded by success. According to Sydney Finkelstein, a management professor at Dartmouth’s Tuck School of Business, CEOs who made monumental mistakes have this common characteristic: “An unfortunate combination of believing they’ve got it all figured out, while turning a blind eye to early warning signs.”
One of Finkelstein’s examples is Groupon CEO Andrew Mason, who turned down Google’s $6 billion offer for the company. Not only did Mason discount the hundreds of mice nibbling away at his cheese, but it would also seem that he lost sight of the sick economy, and failed to recognize what consumers wanted next to light their buying imagination. By mid-2011, Groupon had lost up 50% of its sales and much of its value.
5. Dues paid in full. They say nothing in baseball history comes close to the September 2011 collapse of the Boston Red Sox. Amid the “how-did-it-happen” post-mortem speculation, Boston Globe sports writer Nick Cafardo might have come closest to the explanation.
“This was a team that had no fire. It was a team that had no urgency... It’s a team that needs to be hungry again.” He then wondered how this could happen with a team with monster paychecks and incredible success.
Whatever else the Red Sox collapses might be, it’s the story of what happens to anyone who decides they’ve paid their dues and don’t need to put in a full day or step up to the plate. That’s just for the rookies.
6. Destructive delusions. If we believe our decisions are well thought out and rational, we’re kidding ourselves. One morning a client, who is also the president of his company called and quickly began complaining about his new iPhone. As a confirmed Apple devotee, I instantly found myself arguing with him. “How could anyone believe that?” I said to myself.
After a few minutes of bantering, he said, “You’re an Apple person. There’s no discussing this with you.” He was right on both accounts.
This happens all the time. In his book, The Believing Brain, Michael Shermer, Ph.D., suggests that the brain develops patterns which shape the way we perceive reality. However, then something interesting occurs. We latch on to any information that confirms these beliefs and push aside whatever attempts to challenge them. There’s the rub. Unless we challenge our thinking constantly, what we assume to be rational thought becomes little more than prejudice.
Is it possible to believe the Android OS, or even a much-disliked politician, is totally without merit?
7. The ROI card. Businesses can either play or ignore the “ROI card,” depending on the situation. Usually, they do it inappropriately. Does anyone believe that HP took ROI into account when it splurged a billion plus bucks on Palm? It wanted a tablet product so much that it wrote the check and then scrapped the project less than a year later. That’s an instance of when the company should have played the ROI card. However, that wasn’t what the then-CEO wanted to hear. It’s easy to “overthink” one’s importance in a culture that doesn’t tolerate contrary views.
In other business situations, a business should ignore the “ROI card.” A good example is a 43-store dry cleaning chain in the Northeast, which started an annual drive for winter coats more than 15 years ago. The company cleans 60,000 coats each fall at its own expense and supplies them to community agencies for distribution to babies, kids, and adults.
It also gives more than 250 schools and youth groups the chance to earn special rewards for collecting coats. More than 150 businesses and organizations also collect coats. Beyond all this, the company partners with a TV station, a nationally known furniture company, as well as several radio stations and 100 plus newspapers that help promote the program.
Is such a program good business? Probably not - the company considered the cost because a bold leader said, “It’s the right thing to do.” There are occasions when companies serve themselves best by not playing the ROI card.
Conclusion
Any of these seven examples can jeopardize the future of an individual or an organization whether it’s looking beyond an idea’s ROI or moving forward, blinded by our success.