Executive Wisdom for Business

Those who give a dam may not be well received

A Mexican government agency responsible for the development of water resources decided to build a dam and use it to irrigate a large farming area the productivity of which, it believed, could thereby be doubled. When the agency's plans were completed, it sent representatives to the rural areas that would be affected to explain the project to the peasants and to determine whether they wanted it. The answers were uniformly "yes."

The dam and irrigation system were built at great expense but failed to produce the expected increase in productivity of the land. The puzzled experts went out to determine why. They found that the peasants had reduced the amount of land under cultivation, thereby obtaining more time to work in nearby towns or do nothing. They felt that the amount of work required to use all their land was not justified by the small increase in their income that it would bring about.

"Why," one of the experts asked a consultant, "didn't they tell us before we built the dam?" The consultant could have replied: "Because you didn't ask the right questions. You incorrectly assumed you knew the answers." But he did not. Instead he asked the expert if he played the violin. The puzzled expert answered negatively. Then the consultant asked him what he would do if he were offered a Stradivarius. He said he would accept it. The consultant asked him why since he could not play it. The expert got the point.

RIC's Tip:
The reason for one person's giving may not be the reason for another's receiving.
(With due respect to Russell Ackoff for this fable.)

Ric Willmot

What was it you were telling me about why you can't succeed?

Admiral Peary attempted to reach the North Pole seven times before he succeeded on try number eight.

Oscar Hammerstein had five flop shows that lasted less than a combined total of six weeks before Oklahoma, which ran for 269 weeks and grossed $7 million USD.

John Creasy received 743 rejection slips from publishers before one word was ever published - he eventually published 560 books, which have sold more than 60 million copies.

Albert Einstein, Edgar Allan Poe and John Shelley were all expelled from school for being mentally slow.

After surviving breast cancer, my wife completed twelve IVF procedures before she fell pregnant and gave me the greatest gift, our daughter, Dakota.

What was it again you were telling me about why you can't succeed?

Ric Willmot

Are you having fun?

There have been over 200 members go through my Mentoring Program from at least 9 countries. PricewaterhouseCoopers being one of the better clients who enrol quite a lot of their Directors and Partners through the Program.

It has become a routine that the first question I ask people is: "Are you having fun?"

Last week I had the day working with a favourite client. It was spent in a private room on the top floor of the Currumbin Vikings Surf Club on the Gold Coast. Here was the view we had for the day. Was I having fun working with my client? Decide for yourself, but I think the answer is obvious.

Ric Willmot

Felix the Flying Frog

Harold owned a pet frog affectionately named, Felix. Harold had dreams of rising to be successful and wealthy. "Felix, we are going to be rich! I'm going to teach you how to fly!"

A terrified Felix responded, "I can't fly you idiot ... I'm a frog not a canary."

"That negative attitude might be a problem, so I will send you on a motivational training program."

Felix attended the training program and learned skills in problem solving, time management, teamwork and communication ... but nothing about flying. First day back, Harold was excited about teaching Felix to fly. Harold explaining that their building had seven stories and each day Felix would jump out of a window starting with the first floor eventually making it to the top. After each jump, Felix should analyze the flight, identify effective flying techniques and implement improved processes for the next day's flight. By the time they reached the top floor, Felix would surely be able to fly.

Felix pleaded for his life. But Harold would not be persuaded by negative thinking. Harold opened the window and threw Felix out, landing with a thud! Next day, Felix begged not to be thrown out the window. Harold opened his copy of "Awaken the Flyer Within" and showed Felix the chapter of how one must always expect resistance when implementing new programs. And with that, he threw Felix out the window. THUD.

On the third day (at the third floor) Felix attempted to stall by asking for a delay in flying lessons until better weather would make flying conditions more favorable. But Harold showed the business plan with project management milestones clearly set. "You don't want to fall behind schedule?"

From his training, Felix knew that not jumping today would mean he would have to jump twice tomorrow. Felix was giving it his best. On the fifth day he flapped his webbed feet madly in a vain attempt to fly. On the sixth day he donned a small red cape and thought "Superman" thoughts.  But try as he might, he couldn't fly.

By the seventh day, Felix accepting his fate, no longer begged for mercy. He simply looked at Harold and said: "You know you're killing me?"

Harold explained that Felix's performance had been so far, less than exemplary, failing to meet any of the milestone goals he had set for him.

"Shut up and open the window," and he leaped out, taking careful aim at the sharp corner of the industrial rubbish bin below. And Felix went to that lily pad in the sky.

Harold was distraught, as his project failed to meet a single goal. Felix had not only failed to fly, he did not navigate in flight but rather fell like a block of cheese ... nor did he improve productivity when Harold told him to "Fall smarter not harder." Harold analyzed the process to determine the problems.

After great thought, Harold smiled. "Next time I'm getting a smarter frog!"

PS. This is not my story; but I learned it verbatim so long ago, I fail to remember who to give attribution to.

Sending you a letter, can you pick up the phone?

On the way to a dinner party, after stopping to collect two friends who were joining us, I requested the taxi driver pull over to the curb for me to alight and drop a healthy amount of mail into a post box.

As I sit into the front seat of the cab again, I search for my wallet and mobile phone asking my wife, "Did you put my wallet and phone into your handbag?"

"No."

"Guess what? I just posted them along with the mail."

The stentorian advice and jocund repartees proliferate from everyone except the driver.

"Can you give me your cell phone and I will call my number to make certain it is in the post box?" To which the driver exclaims: "Be funny if Maxwell Smart answers it!"

High tech ... high touch

Late last year I spoke at a luncheon on the pool deck of the Hilton Hotel in Brisbane. During my brief address, I commented that technology, which was designed to assist our poductivity, is actually hindering our effectiveness to do smart business. I explained that while clients attempting to arrange a meeting with me will be tapping away for minutes on their Raspberries searching for the calendar functions; the yearly planner of my Filofax is open at the ready, instantly.

Afterwards, a nebbish individual approaches me and interrupts (showing no manners) a private conversation. Holding her business card in the tips of her fingers, she proceeds to wave it in my face but pulls it away as I reach to accept it. "You need to learn how to use your technology better to improve your business, I can teach you ... yada yada." I am no longer interested in her business card, as she thrusts it into my palm.

My conversation partner chortles as I rip the card and discard it. Nesbitt was right when he wrote: "High tech ... high touch!" The more technology becomes a part of our lives the more we need to reach out and touch people to build positive, caring and worthwhile relationships. Interrupting a private conversation to tell me my business needs improving is not going to help you build a relationship with me.

Ric is in the House

This week's episode of House was about an aggressively rude brat of a teenager, who happened to be afflicted with hemochromatosis. The exact same genetic disorder I suffer from, and have broken records for the highest level of iron composition in the blood stream in Australia.

At one point during the episode, it was implied that his aberrant behavior was due to this disease. Of course, later House dismissed this as sheer fantasy, and that his behavior was purely because he was an undisciplined teenager. That point was missed on four friends who telephoned the next day to exclaim they now understand why I am (apparently) so scathing with my assessments of people, attitudes and behaviors.

Why do people become so offended and indignant when you disagree with them or challenge their position? Maybe it is because their self-esteem is lousy. Many formulate their self-image, and therefore their self-esteem, devoid of reality. They fool themselves into believing they are smarter, better, richer ... or even perfect. And so, when that mask they wear is threatened (or potentially threatened) they become defensive and sometimes aggressive.

We all decide for ourselves whether to be angry, intimidated, or frustrated. Nobody else does it to us. I am convinced that control resides in our ability to be self-confident, have good self-esteem, and be open to learning new and opposing opinions, ideas and concepts to those we previously held sacrosanct.

I am confident of that; even if my wife thinks I am Monk and my friends believe I am House.

 

Can I have a puppy?

My 10-year-old niece is a little too prolix in her determination to tell us almost every day that she wants a puppy. Last year, her grandmother's birthday necessitated a family gathering at Sanctuary Cove for lunch. Every dog which went by was purposely announced along with a rushing need to leave the table and pat the animal.

She is also being counseled and portion controlled in her appetite for sweets, to curb her weight. During the stroll late in the afternoon to the car park, we passed by another dog. At which time, my niece pleaded that she might have a puppy. "No," came the response from her father.

"Well if I can't have a dog, may I at least have an ice-cream?" pointing to the store directly across the way. "Oh well, I guess that's the least we can do," says Dad.

Who would have known that an imaginary puppy could be worth so many ice-creams to a girl on a diet!