Failed to Doom

by Don Harkey

During a break at last week's Success Seminar (which was a great event in Springfield!), a participant lamented all of the examples of bad management within his firm and other organizations. The question he had was "how are we going to overcome all of this bad management?". My answer was simple.

"Failure."

Bad management within a free market will eventually lead to failure. Bad management is like a disease. Bad management creates a system that breeds more bad managers. When an organization is completely overtaken, it will fail over time either under its own inept weight or when it gets outmaneuvered by a better managed organization.

Such occurred with GM and Chrysler... or at least it was supposed to occur.

As organizations such as Toyota and Honda created some of the best management seen on the planet (stemmed from ideas of an American named Edwards Deming), organizations who had grown with almost unlimited resources and a strong cultural backing became more than lame. They became incompetent. We should have forecasted the doom of these companies when their strategy focused on purchasing their products because of where their corporate offices are located versus the true value of their product.

Even in 1986 when my mother from Detroit purchased her "Born in America" Plymouth Voyager and learned that it was actually built in Canada with a Mitsubishi engine, we should have known. Meanwhile, my 1983 Honda Accord (built in Illinois) ran reliably until the bottom nearly rusted out almost 17 years later.

Believe me, I don't blame GM or Chrysler; I believe the American consumer who decided that "Born in America" was good enough is now paying for it again. In a free economy, we get the best products when we buy the best products built by the best companies that utilize the best management and the best people. Reward good business with your dollar and it will succeed.

The cure for bad business in a free market is failure. Government intervention or purchasing products based on anything other than good service or good producs is... well... bad management!

Great Scott! A Case Study in Accidental Management

by Don Harkey

I love "The Office", a sitcom currently airing on NBC. There are not many shows that I follow, but this one is funny, well-written, and hits close to home on a topic I love... management.

If you don't watch the series, I will give you a short backdrop. The show is about a branch of a mid-sized paper company and the happenings around the (you guessed it) office. The branch manager, Michael Scott, is played brilliantly by Steve Carell as an insecure, self-centered, politically incorrect, bumbling, and yet very likeable manager who likes his company, loves his people, and somehow manages to make his way through life. The program style like a continuous documentary with unseen cameramen following the characters around.

In the show, the company is struggling and is shutting down some of its branches. In a recent episode, Michael Scott is invited to the corporate office by the CFO to talk about "the big picture" (a phrase which Michael admits to having never heard before). Believing he is in some sort of trouble (because he usually is), he is surprised when the CFO reports that Michael's branch is the only branch that is actually successful. The CFO asks him, "what is the secret to your success?".

Michael enters into a passionate, yet incoherent monologue using catch phrases and absolutes. The CFO listens patiently, quietly amazed that Michael has been so successful. There are 2 key points here. First of all, Michael is successful. Second of all, he has no clue why he is successful.

While the show presents a caricature of corporate life, this drives in a major point. I believe one of the biggest causes of management mistakes is caused by misinterpreting the true causes of success (or failure).

This can be seen in the field of coaching all of the time. Larry Brown was one of the most successful coaches in the history of basketball. Yet when he was given the opportunity to coach the "Dream Team" in the Olympics, his team failed miserably.

There are many other examples in the world. Not too many years ago, General Electric CEO Jack Welsh was considered by many to be the greatest CEO of all time. Today, many people question whether he was successful or destructive. Harry Truman left office as one of the most unpopular Presidents in U.S. History and yet today he is consistently ranked as one of the best.

Sometimes the true factors that lead to success are not understood, even while they are accidentally being applied. A supervisor might implement a recognition program one week that is an incredible success and then try to duplicate the program in another department and fail miserably.

The key to overcoming this is to constantly evaluate and look for patterns in success. Times when success (or failure) is expected but not observed are opportunities to refine "the laws of success". The formula can be complex, but you can learn a lot from your experiences and even more from the experiences of others!

Here is a sample of wisdom from Michael Scott...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bVVsDIv98TA