New Innovation Or Just An Old Idea?

Copyright: bowie15 / 123RF Stock Photo

I was tagged a while ago, by a fellow LinkedIn member and someone I have great respect for, Arnie Mckinnis.  It was in reference to an article associated with Forbes online site about eliminating sales commissions.  One CEO decided to do this and had some success and suddenly people think this is a trend we should be following and is worthy of an article in Forbes?  Slow your roll people...

First of all, so many management "innovations" of the past 25 years I've noticed are just a twist or a turn on an old philosophy.  Why do we always have to reach for something we perceive to be shiny and new?  And by the way, none of these ideas are entirely original, and in this post I'll explain why. Listed below are a few of the latest paradigm shifts that we seem to think are changing the way we lead or manage people. New innovation or an old idea reformulated? You be the judge:

1.) The Death of Sales Commissions - I find it amusing how suddenly business executives have decided that it's not in the best interest of the company, or the sales rep, to pay commissions if they meet or exceed their quota. How does this help a sales rep? By teaching them to how to stretch a dollar? I have read books, articles, and even a review from the Stanford Graduate School of Business entitled, "Eliminating Sales Quotas May Stimulate Profits". However, is this a ground breaking idea? Please reread that title and notice the emphasis on profit.  Of course a company's profit will go up if sales commissions go down.  It doesn't take a mathematical genius to figure out that if you spend less and get the same results your company's profit with increase. This isn't a new and improved idea. Saturn tried this 25 years ago, and where is Saturn now? There is no doubt this will work in a short term case study. But I would like to see them conduct a long term experiment and see how well they retain top sales people after eliminating sales commission. People are motivated intrinsically and extrinsically, especially people in sales. "F#$k you. Pay me!"
2.) Cold Calling Is Dead - Yeah right! The names have been changed to protect the guilty. I read a book 10 years ago entitled "Never Cold Call Again: Achieve Sales Greatness Without Cold Calling", and now with the advent of social media, writers are still piling on the grave of the cold call.  However, cold calling will never die, it has just been reclassified.  When you send an email or even an InMail, this is still a cold contact with a person you don't know.  So how is that any different than a cold call.  Cold calling isn't dead, it's now that we have different mediums to conduct a cold call.  We don't always have to do it in person. Nothing new here except how we make a cold call, either via the internet, phone, or in person.  It's still "cold".
3.) The New Motivation - Wow! Now businesses are using science to discover what drives people?. Is that a new concept? Nope. They've been doing experiments on motivation and behaviorism since the 1800's.  So why is "Drive" ,by Daniel Pink, supposedly the newest book on a paradigm shift in motivation?  Because it's well written, the explanation is simple and almost intuitive, and it was created by a great speech writer. I found the book fascinating and a very interesting take on motivational theory. However psychologists such as Skinner, Watson, and Maslow have been studying motivation for the last 100 years.  In fact, the experiment or Candle Problem and the study Pink refers to is over 50 years old. What Daniel Pink has done, is put all of this science behind motivation into a very simple formula to help layman like me understand how it will work in a practical setting. It's a good book, but I wouldn't treat it like a motivational bible, and I would definitely not base my entire company philosophy on one book. Pay people!!!
4.) Gamification : I think we called these "contests" at one time. Way back in the old days of the 1990's, we used to create contests to garner employee's interest. With the advent of technology and the newest entries into the work force, seaching for a new form of engagement, gamification has become another way to motivate employees to do what businesses want them to do. It is a new form of an old system, which we call competition. Millenials who were raised on video games, and are light years ahead of older people in terms of applying technology, love the concept of gamification.  For them, it's a different way of accomplishing tasks and still being engaged.  It's yet just another way of creating competition and is not really a new concept, just an old one with an SAS attached. Either way, it's a good way to get your employees involved.
5.) Holacracy - This was once called leadership by committee. We all understand that Zappos, Kolibri, Medium, Arca and other companies are using this as a leadership tool, and that empowering employees works. I think this is wonderful, and a very good way to keep employee performance and engagement at a maximum, but it's not that new, just a more advanced form of leadership by committee.  However, with it's advancement, holacracy seems very complicated and must be difficult for an entire organization to follow, especially when you start examining it in detail. There is a constitution for god's sake!  Really? "Am I working for you, or becoming a citizen of your country?"  It almost seems a bit cult like in it's nature, but if you're trying to create a culture, than empowering all your employees is a good place to start.  For me, I would rather have something simpler, like an open door policy that's actually an open door policy.  I think that just listening to employees at all levels and empowering them to help in the success of failure of a company is enough in itself. 

I can think of dozens more examples of an old idea becoming a "new" innovation, but my attention span is limited, and so is the space for this post.

After writing this article, I realized that everything old really can be new again, specifically an idea. It just needs a face lift, a little help from new technology, and a few adjustments.  And like an aging movie star, it can make a comeback.  There's hope for me yet...

Have a good day!

Instant Gratification or Instant Frustration...Are We Spoiled?

Copyright: nexusplexus / 123RF Stock Photo

Yesterday I was in line at a drive thru, and there must have been five cars ahead of me.  I got a call, and I took a moment to look at my phone to see who was calling, when I was startled by the person behind me who was beeping their car horn.  I was at first surprised, and then a little embarrassed, and finally a little bit mad.  All this took about 30 seconds. 

As I inched the car forward, I started to think about how ridiculous that person behind me was for beeping their horn.  We were in line at a drive thru!  None of us were going anywhere for at least 5-15 minutes.  I rolled down my window as I looked in the rear view to get a glimpse at the person who was the alleged beeper.

"We are in line at the drive thru you idiot!  Where the heck are you gonna go?  Around me?!", I shouted.

Apparently the logic must have worked, or so I thought because the person didn't say a word in retort.  However, as I looked in the rear view mirror, I could see it was a young woman and she was on her cell phone.  She probably hadn't heard anything I'd said, or more precisely, she didn't care.
She was too busy talking or texting, and trying to manage the drive thru with all the slower cars in front of her, inching along taking up an extra 30 seconds of her time, which she could have spent talking or texting.

As my car crawled in the drive thru line, I thought to myself, "Geez we've become so impatient and so spoiled.  This (insert derogatory term for the girl behind me here ), couldn't even wait 30 seconds for me to move my car forward.  I wonder how she reacts when she's in line at the grocery store?"

And as I sat there, I thought about all the times I've been angry, or have seen people become irate over the silliest little things. As if our instant gratification is the only thing that mattered, and when we don't receive that affirmation, we become instantly frustrated. Do any of these situations seem familiar to you?

1. - You didn't receive an immediate text response - I have been in so many "fights" because I didn't send or receive a text response immediately. And we feel as if that person on the other end of the text just suddenly stopped caring about us.  So how do we deal with this situation? We send another text with either a "hey?", or "?", or "WTF?".  Here's a thought.  It's a phone, how about making a call?
2. - It takes fives minutes or more for an app to open on your phone or device - I find myself getting so annoyed when an app takes time to load.  I downloaded the new ESPN app last week, and when it didn't start working right away, I was furious.  At the time, I was in the garage trying to watch a game, and my wife made the ridiculous suggestion that I actually go inside the house and watch the game.  What? I thought she was crazy!  That's like me suggesting that she stop using Pinterest to buy stuff we really don't need.
3. - You have a problem with Netflix not streaming - Now I am a very calm person.  Almost too calm sometimes.  But when I can't stream "House of Cards", or "Arrested Development", or some other movie Netflix recommends, I just lose it and start swearing at the computer or television. I especially loathe when I'm watching an episode and the stream cuts off.  Hmmm maybe I should trying reading a book like my friends suggest...nah.  That takes too much concentration on my behalf.
4. - Your Xbox, Playstation, or Wii, not loading a game properly-If you're not a gamer this won't apply, but even if you just casually play games like I do, there is nothing more frustrating than waiting for a game to load, or even worse it won't work properly because you just installed an update. I hate when I'm in the middle of playing Just Dance and there's an issue.  Don't mess with my moves!
5. - Your computer not switching tasks quickly enough - Recently my wife bought a new laptop because she felt her old one was too slow.  By too slow, I mean she couldn't watch a dog video, check her facebook page, order from Amazon, peruse Pinterest, update her LinkedIn profile, and do actual work all at the same time quickly enough for her own satisfaction.  Either the dog video would load too slowly, or her fb status didn't update correctly, or her Pinterest page wasn't loading properly.  She had to have all of these things done instantly or else she wouldn't feel fulfilled. I know what you're thinking and "no", that's not my fault.
6. - You're annoyed with people in front of you in line at the airport- A few years ago, I was late arriving to the airport for a flight and by late, I mean the flight was taking off in 45 minutes. I had to check a bag, my first mistake.  And my second mistake was getting behind a clown in line.  I'm not calling the person a clown, I mean there was an actual clown in line!  He had all his make up on and was dragging a big trash can.  I was so annoyed that he was going to get out before me, that I wanted to hit him in his red nose with the lid of the trash can.  I did not, and guess who made his flight, but I didn't.  Yep, the clown! California is so weird sometimes.
7. - You're annoyed with people in front of you in line at the store - I can't remember all the times people have attempted to cut in front of me in the grocery store.  Just yesterday I was in line at Trader Joe's when a rich, middle aged lady acted like she was looking at some chocolates next to the cashier and then just stood there as if she'd been in the cue all along. 
I said to her, "Excuse me ma'am, but all of us are waiting in line.", and I pointed to the people behind me.
She responded, "Oh I only have this little basket.", and then she smiled.
My response, "We all have little baskets ma'am.". , and I smiled in return. Or maybe it was a grimace?
She stopped smiling and then said, "How rude!", as if I'd called her what I really wanted to call her.
My rejoinder, "Yes you are rude to try in cut in front of all of us." 
She then proceeded to extend a bony middle finger at me. Whatever happened to nice, little old ladies?
8. -You're annoyed with people in front of you in line at Disneyland, Six Flags, or Universal Studios- If these are supposed to be the happiest places on earth, than why is everyone so irritable?  Because of the lines!  Who wants to wait an hour to go on a ride?  Not me.  That's why I try to go during the week if possible, but if you have the misfortune to visit an amusement park on a weekend, well you have my condolences.  Hey, at least while you're in line you can text, browse the Internet, or even watch a movie on your smart phone. Anything to make you forget that you're in 90 degree heat, surrounded by screaming kids and miserable parents.  It doesn't exactly sound like the happiest place on earth, but I'm certain it was worth the $120 you paid for admission.
9. - You're annoyed with people in front of you period. - Get used to it because the world is getting crowded.  If you're annoyed by lines move to the suburbs or even better, the Arctic Circle.  Just move where there are less people.  But be forewarned, even in tiny towns there are still impatient jerks.  I was in the middle of a snowstorm a few years ago and there was only my car, a vehicle ahead of me, and a snow plow at a stop light.  When the traffic light changed, the idiot in front of me had the audacity to beep his horn at the snow plow in front of us.  What a moron!  Our only way home was to follow that plow through the storm. I think the jerk who honked the car horn ended up under 5 feet of well plowed snow.
10.-A car trying to merge in front of you on the thruway, freeway, or expressway. - I have never understood why people need to stop other people from merging onto the road.  It makes no sense, and it's selfish.  We act as if other cars are not allowed to get ahead of us, because we were on the road first.  Once, I witnessed an accident because the person nearest the merging lane forced the car trying to merge right into a wall. A woman was trying to merge her car into traffic, and running out of room but the person in the car nearest hers, just kept speeding up and cutting her off, like it was a NASCAR race. Finally she ran out of room and her car went into the wall. To make matters worse, the guy driving the car that cut her off never stopped.  He just drove off. What an a#$hole!

I can think of at least 20 more examples, but I don't want to bore you with any of the details.  However, remember that if these are all the things you really have to become frustrated by, then you've got a pretty good life. 

Have a good day!