My son plays football for
the middle school. It’s his first
year.
They haven’t won a game
yet. In fact, they’re usually massacred!
His coach started to shuffle all
the kids into new positions as he got more familiar with their abilities.
After they played their
first game with the new line-up my son came home excited.
“Mom, guess what!”
“We only lost by 7
today!!”
If only organizations
valued such improvement and kept adjusting the line-up to get everyone in the
right place!
Ann — Wonderful post. And Iove your clarification: “Like so many philosophies, using this as prescriptive advice requires context.” Well said.
Ann – you nailed the clarification perfectly (and I knew what you meant all along… there was no need to justify or defend). The only reason for my comment was for “those out there” who might view it as rationale for relativism.
Have a great weekend!
Tim –
Thank you or bringing out this point. Like so many philosophies, using this as prescriptive advice requires context.
I certainly don’t advocate mediocrity or think a company should be patting itself on the back for always missing the mark.
The bias (or context!) behind my comment comes from several years of experience working with companies trying to break into emerging markets. You very rarely (if ever) anticipate market requirements perfectly the first time out.
Experimentation is required. Experiments that don’t result in a home run are not necessarily failures if they produce valuable knowledge that allows you to get closer to the mark the next time. You often have to adjust as you learn.
I have watched companies call everything that wasn’t a “home run” a failure. This “swing for the fences” mentality caused them to waste a lot of time and money. They would have been far better served with smaller less expensive regulated experiments designed to get them the foundational knowledge and experience they needed to be successful. If they had rewarded incremental progress they might have gotten somewhere faster and maybe even more cheaply!
Thanks again – and PLEASE tell me if you disagree (that’s how I learn!!!).
Ann
The problem, Ann, is that our organizations continue their relativisitc mindset so that continuous losing is OK, as long as others lose by larger margins. Still, I admire your son’s perseverence… GO ADAM!!!