Conservatism is getting the upper hand, and to be frank, it scares me. When things get tough, people take less risk. They look for the rules to follow and figure if they keep their head down, the next lay off might just miss them. Companies slash budgets, employee raises and anything which resembles writing a check. It starts a vicious cycle – vendors who service the company see a drop in sales and do the same to their employees.
Soon everyone second guesses if they should invest in their education or development, buy that new television, and dine out or to the movies. The demand for services and products drops, which in turn, confirms the company’s initial cost cutting measures -then, another round of belt tightening.
So, I’ll be the first one to suggest, let’s break a few rules. A review of the book, First, Break All the Rules: What the World’s Greatest Managers Do Differently
The list does not represent remarkably new ideas, though it serves as a reminder to contemplate the contrary view. Sometimes just doing the opposite of what is expected will get you noticed – hopefully in a positive way.
Situations take on different perspectives with new solutions. And if it was not the best decision, then just make a change.
It’s important to keep in mind that most rules exist for good reasons, and are not to be blithely ignored. On the other hand, what’s truly important are the reasons behind the rules, not the rules themselves. This is as true for the kind of specific rules that are embodied in organizational policies as it is for rules in the sense of sound business strategies. Knowing when to strictly follow the rules and when to break them is the difference between a boss who’s a martinet and one who’s a leader.
Ofttimes it’s the job of a boss to resolve the conflict between competing rules. One small example has stuck with me over the years. Bill Miller was Provost of Stanford University. Like most large universities, it had developed a complex set of parking regulations. Everyone had to have a parking permit, and where you parked was determined by the level of permit you had. The good ones were quite expensive. Everyone had to pay for their own permit. There were no exceptions, because once you made one exception, where could you possibly draw the line? A reasonable organizational rule.
As Miller told the story, there was a renowned industry leader who was donating his time teaching a course at Stanford. It was a coup for Stanford to have him. Under the circumstances, he was outraged at being expected to pay for a parking permit. And that too was completely reasonable
Miller’s solution, unbeknownst to the adjunct faculty member, was to take some money out of his wallet, gave it to his assistant, and tell him to go buy the man a parking permit. In short, he expeditiously found a way to ignore the organizational parking rule in a way that didn’t do violence to it, while at the same time honoring the more general rule that you should show appreciation and respect to those who are doing you a favor.