Hi Tom. Have you watched the video "Consuming Kids"? It's about the psychology of marketing to children to influence purchasing by their parents... It sounds like the business you might be in. Going by your description of yourself on your YouTube channel. Consuming Kids is an excellent movie every parent and grand parent on the planet should watch.
My background includes several years in occupational safety & health. I was the ergonomics program manager in an organization (industrial/office) of approximately 1200, with considerable downsizing issues. My reply video would focus on my perception of the rank and file response to the concept of innovation.
Love it! Tom, at the risk of having to follow through with my promise (insert smiley emoticon here), I'd like to make a reply video. I'm one video reply committment behind at the moment, however. Do you mind if this doesn't come immediately? Second comment coming ...
I'm afraid that wish will go ungranted. Governments don't operate innovatively, or on the basis of broad involvement. Large institutions of all kinds (besides businesses) aren't motivated to change dramatically. Businesses are thus motivated but even they can't do it very well because of the power of politics and inertia.
If every there was an entity devised to be MORE resistant to innovation than our government (on all levels), I have yet to come across the beast.
With "GOVERNMENT'S" tangled competing conglomeration of rival fiefdoms and on-going turf wars, I have little hope of living long enough to see any true innovation in reforming American government before it is too late.
The general focus on business process management hurts innovation. Edison would not be allowed, in many of todays organizations, to proceed after testing the first 100 filaments because the business plan does not meet ROI targets for R&D efforts above 100 tests. Current management theories and practices are very week on managing for innovation. Good vlog!
The tension between incremental and breakthrough improvement is delicate, Joe. Resolving that tension too clearly toward one or the other pole is a mistake. It's not "either/or," it's "both/and." Thanks.
Maybe there are innovative ideas coming from individuals but they are unable to communicate in such a way to make others share their vision. I guess you have to blame our educational system.
There are plenty of incompletely articulated ideas that don't get implemented. Business challenge: get better at figuring out what people mean when they talk about their ideas while helping people get better at articulating them.
Its like those commericals and marketing slogans like "Invent" by HP and "Think Differently" by Apple. I mean, invent what? what are most people going to do with that information?
Telling people to innovate is a bit like telling people to be spontaneous...
Some above have commented on mistakes - they are not a side issue; they are an integral issue. If an organization is unable to positively and supportively deal with mistakes, it is not ready for innovation; innovation will result in mistakes.
Consider Edison and the lightbulb, according to the Smithsonian, over 1600 failed substances (and 40,000+ pages of notes) for filament before a successful 40 hour burn (is
there a balance somewhere between Edison and one of my fave sayings: Learn from your mistakes, but don't overdo it...?)
IMHO some innovation is just blind luck or an open mind (what a concept!), but most is the product of somebody's passion for puzzles/learning. Our education system has a knack for taking bright vibrant kids and turning them into numbed young adults that just want to pass the test/make as few mistakes as possible.
Like you mentioned of getting the right people talking etc., "cross-pollination" of ideas - be it 2 or more talking or 1 studying 2 or more different fields - can be very potent for innovation.
Luck is so underrated as a factor. I've made videos about it and people simply refuse to accept its prominence. Open mind is bottom line and our mainstream ed systems squash it.
Very interesting. I'm not in the big business world. My husband has two small businesses. I'd like to hear more about how you work with people to get them to work together.
I learned in one of my Engineering Ethics classes... there was a poll on how creative people are at a certain age. People thought kids at age 5 are 80% creative and at age 25, they were 2% creative. To some sense we do lose creativity as we age...but I don't think we lose that much.
But my question is: About what percentage of innovations fail?
No doubt about it, we become more locked in on tried-and-true methods (being locked-in being the ultimate enemy of innovation). For me the question always is WHEN an innovation fails, not WHETHER it fails. Fast, small, smart failure's one thing; slow, big, dumb failure's another.
Solid approach. As always, the key is execution. The older I get the more I find the devil is, in fact, in the doing. I've watched too many well-theorized initiatives sputter after the buzz wears off.
I couldn't disagree more. That line about new ideas is apocryphally attributed to a US Patent Office Commissioner, but it's bunk. "New" doesn't mean never seen before; it often means never seen in this way/context before. Doing old things in new ways doesn't necessarily mean copyright infringement. iPods innovative? Yup. Not because no MP3 players pre-existed but because none bundled with great software before. People innovate daily with no lawyers in sight.
Well, lots of things are in the news that happen all the time, not just copyright disputes. It seems you believe we're in a time of innovation paralysis. I don't see it that way. Every product category, supply chain approach, positioning strategy, etc. is undergoing enormous innovation today. It's the key to success. Read Gary Hamel's article in the current issue of Fortune for examples.
There was a radio article recently how a design engineer devised turning indicators for bicycles based on the same RF technology used for wireless doorbells! Same technology, different application. Why didn't anyone think of it before? He's making a removable model just for the UK, where people tend to thieve things.
That's a great example: new use for existing technology. (No copyright infringement; licensing.) Innovation is almost always obvious in retrospect, isn't it?
"Connect the right people... right things [ideas]... right time, in the right way." Perhaps if the corporate leaders look at the cost of *not* doing things differently (the probably almost certain future) and see what's at stake then they could jump off the "cliff of risk" into an unknown or untested process.
Especially if they start small. Finding a project, process or team that has a real intense need to innovate as a demonstration area is an approach we've been successful with for years. Then the results of new approaches are demonstrable within their own business. Thanks, divalolo.
Look at the direction that society has moved in the last 5000 years from hunter gather to agriculture. Growth as resulted from the creation of a controlled environment. The cell discovered this billions of years ago and it led to the development of new skills and an explosive growth of life.
Isn't innovation just the natural result of passion? I don't think the real innovators were people who went to meetings and were "reminded" to be innovative, they're just people who have a passion for what they're doing.
The best way to take innovation forward is to share "best practice" ideas with a view to making them more streamlined and more successful, and valuing your employees enough to make teamwork evaluations. Learn to trust your employees feedback, for they are the ones at the sharp end of any new innovations. Remember, they can tell you what will work and what won't. Great vlog Tom, loved it.
Tom you wrote "A perfectly formed idea, delivered by a solitary genius, has a slim chance of being executed in a complex corporate setting because of intricate social factors" Wish someone had told me that early in my career.
Well I'm no genius and I make no claim that my ideas were perfectly formed but if I'd known that 35 years ago I could have applied that reality check to my ideas and saved a lot of work. Are you ever allowed to speak to new hires this realistically? aloha :)
I just saw you in the TED movie! Right after Peter Gabriel. That's a great video! I's love to go to that conference! Maybe I could get a job in the Goggle Cafe and sneak a peak! ha ha Great Documentary! Freida
Yup...that was me for a fleeting second, Freida. TED is a remarkable experience. Starbucks does the coffee and the Google Cafe has become a regular feature...would love to see you there! Best. Tom
good sound advice... we're "thinking" a lot at my work at the moment. But we need to step from thinking about change to actual change! Good time for me to hear this stuff - i think i'll use it in a team meeting :)
Well I have some suggestions on how an organization can discourage innovation.. Be highly risk adverse, recognize only one innovator each year and make even that reward insignificant, make implementing and sharing innovations a difficult and unpleasant task.
Under those circumstances your bright but lazy employees will innovate to make their jobs easier but we, oops, they will keep it a secret, especially from management. aloha :)
Excellent look at the inner mechanics of the anti-innovation machine that's on auto-pilot in many organizations. Working with small nonprofits I have similar discussions but on a different scale, usually after somebody says, "But we've always done it X way." My battle is to tell them that the past is part of the discussion, but the past does not have veto power.
Hey, mik, thanks for stopping by. Sorry I'm not going to be able to make it to SouthTube this weekend...I'll bet it's a blast! Looking forward to the videos!
A point ya almost touched on is the fact, that some times going back to the basics can be innovative, take for example Kettle Corn, which was how it use to be done, and now its considered "innovative."
Greetings from sunny Chicago, Illinois and on my birthday no less! I enjoyed what you had to say very much. It rang true a lot with what Jim Collins wrote in "Good To Great", a fabulous book that I'm reading right now.
Well, happy birthday, Robert, and thanks for the Jim Collins comparison. That book's a classic and contains some valuable lessons. I'm sure you'll enjoy it. Enjoy the sunshine...as we know, winter in Chicago isn't all that much fun (having spent four of them there, myself!) It is, however, one of the world's great cities.
Your right. "Innovate" is a word that is sort of bantered around willy nillilly a LOT without actually being done most of the time. I am a fan of the idea of the the solitary creator though. :) I think sometimes vision can be better then committee. Depends on the people yeah. Always interesting coming here Tom. Never a second wasted, straight to the point. Love that.
1. Thanks, Dan. No doubt about it: solitary creative geniuses produce world-changing things. In business, the trick is getting things done; actually executed. The best ideas in the world are unimportant to businesses if they can't be implemented.
2. A perfectly formed idea, delivered by a solitary genius, has a slim chance of being executed in a complex corporate setting because of intricate social factors. Symphonies by committee? Never. New product inspirations by committee? Hmm...sometimes. Making sure things will get done by "committee"...much better chance.
Thanks for the kind words. I think the thing I find most interesting about business consulting is the point you make: the lessons are interchangeable with ways to improve our lives overall.
Change is needed to have any kind of growth, and you have to examine your belief system on a regular basis to effect change. To many people are stuck in rut because they are unwilling to change in a changing enviroment.
Really enjoyed this one too. Sometimes I have to listen to parts a few times, because I lose focus very quickly. But eventually I get it all. I can identify with the 'things won't get better' or 'that good idea will never happen' defeatist prophecies. Sometimes these are legitimate claims because of politics or excessively self-interested employees. Sometimes it's just an excuse to keep being comfortably marginal or not have to think too hard.
Well given you've made this comment, it would seem unwise to give them the link, but perhaps Tom would be ok with you taking it from your cache and forwarding it to them merely asking what they think of it, rather than treating it as an indictment of your colleagues or organization. But that's just me, I'm a firm believer in keeping my internet life separate.
Speaking of corporate "Innovation", have you heard of the new eBay "Seller Non Performance Policy"? Now there's a cubicle bay I'd like to see removed from existence... :-)
I'd actually not heard of the policy before you brought it up. I Googled it and read it. I'm not an intense eBay user so I'm sure I'm missing the subtleties but on first blush it looked reasonable to me. What am I missing?
Yes, it was an excellent idea, but the execution turned out to be more like a heavy handed, Draconian "market eugenics".
At first glance it seems that 5% negative feedback will get you suspended from selling for two weeks. In practice it is only *two negatives OR neutrals* in a two week period... big difference.
There are people who've been selling from '98 on with 99% - 100% positive feedback that have been suspended because UPS botched a couple deliveries, etc. Really scary.
Hi Tom. Have you watched the video "Consuming Kids"? It's about the psychology of marketing to children to influence purchasing by their parents... It sounds like the business you might be in. Going by your description of yourself on your YouTube channel. Consuming Kids is an excellent movie every parent and grand parent on the planet should watch.
O,
Opinionator52 6 months ago
My background includes several years in occupational safety & health. I was the ergonomics program manager in an organization (industrial/office) of approximately 1200, with considerable downsizing issues. My reply video would focus on my perception of the rank and file response to the concept of innovation.
kalacaw 4 years ago
I look forward to seeing it whenever you can get to it. Thanks.
tlg847 4 years ago
Love it! Tom, at the risk of having to follow through with my promise (insert smiley emoticon here), I'd like to make a reply video. I'm one video reply committment behind at the moment, however. Do you mind if this doesn't come immediately? Second comment coming ...
kalacaw 4 years ago
Thanks. No, of course I don't mind...
tlg847 4 years ago
What a good video. Thanks for the insight Tom.
And I enjoyed your videos on Brands too.
richardweekes 4 years ago
Thanks very much for the kind words, richard.
tlg847 4 years ago
I wish "The Government" could learn the method that you are expounding.
GregariousMisnthrope 4 years ago
I'm afraid that wish will go ungranted. Governments don't operate innovatively, or on the basis of broad involvement. Large institutions of all kinds (besides businesses) aren't motivated to change dramatically. Businesses are thus motivated but even they can't do it very well because of the power of politics and inertia.
tlg847 4 years ago
Sadly, Tom, I have to concur.
If every there was an entity devised to be MORE resistant to innovation than our government (on all levels), I have yet to come across the beast.
With "GOVERNMENT'S" tangled competing conglomeration of rival fiefdoms and on-going turf wars, I have little hope of living long enough to see any true innovation in reforming American government before it is too late.
GregariousMisnthrope 4 years ago
Wow! You know, Tom.. It's just amazing how you can manage to make so many things, make so much sense.. even at 1:30 in the morning! LOL;D
I love the part about the "TSUNAMI of iDEAS!", with the guy at a desk, papers strewn 10 feet high!!! HAHAHA ...
Your way of explaining just about ANYthing is positively celestial! THANKS for the incredible insights..
Take care~ ;)
tubeeorrnottubee 4 years ago
As always, you're too kind, Anni, too kind. Thanks!
tlg847 4 years ago
The general focus on business process management hurts innovation. Edison would not be allowed, in many of todays organizations, to proceed after testing the first 100 filaments because the business plan does not meet ROI targets for R&D efforts above 100 tests. Current management theories and practices are very week on managing for innovation. Good vlog!
vidular 4 years ago
The tension between incremental and breakthrough improvement is delicate, Joe. Resolving that tension too clearly toward one or the other pole is a mistake. It's not "either/or," it's "both/and." Thanks.
tlg847 4 years ago
Maybe there are innovative ideas coming from individuals but they are unable to communicate in such a way to make others share their vision. I guess you have to blame our educational system.
ptbernard 4 years ago
There are plenty of incompletely articulated ideas that don't get implemented. Business challenge: get better at figuring out what people mean when they talk about their ideas while helping people get better at articulating them.
tlg847 4 years ago
Its like those commericals and marketing slogans like "Invent" by HP and "Think Differently" by Apple. I mean, invent what? what are most people going to do with that information?
LACK78 4 years ago
I think those are branding messages, Matt, telling the market that these are brands that innovate routinely.
tlg847 4 years ago
Telling people to innovate is a bit like telling people to be spontaneous...
Some above have commented on mistakes - they are not a side issue; they are an integral issue. If an organization is unable to positively and supportively deal with mistakes, it is not ready for innovation; innovation will result in mistakes.
Consider Edison and the lightbulb, according to the Smithsonian, over 1600 failed substances (and 40,000+ pages of notes) for filament before a successful 40 hour burn (is
OhhhThatGuy 4 years ago
there a balance somewhere between Edison and one of my fave sayings: Learn from your mistakes, but don't overdo it...?)
IMHO some innovation is just blind luck or an open mind (what a concept!), but most is the product of somebody's passion for puzzles/learning. Our education system has a knack for taking bright vibrant kids and turning them into numbed young adults that just want to pass the test/make as few mistakes as possible.
OhhhThatGuy 4 years ago
Like you mentioned of getting the right people talking etc., "cross-pollination" of ideas - be it 2 or more talking or 1 studying 2 or more different fields - can be very potent for innovation.
OhhhThatGuy 4 years ago
Read two books if you're interested in this line of thinking: "The Medici Effect" and "Consilience." Both terrific.
tlg847 4 years ago
Luck is so underrated as a factor. I've made videos about it and people simply refuse to accept its prominence. Open mind is bottom line and our mainstream ed systems squash it.
tlg847 4 years ago
No doubt about it, OTG. Mistakes are an inevitable byproduct of innovation. Google's motto on this?: "Learn fast, fail fast."
tlg847 4 years ago
Very interesting. I'm not in the big business world. My husband has two small businesses. I'd like to hear more about how you work with people to get them to work together.
PragueVlogg 4 years ago
I learned in one of my Engineering Ethics classes... there was a poll on how creative people are at a certain age. People thought kids at age 5 are 80% creative and at age 25, they were 2% creative. To some sense we do lose creativity as we age...but I don't think we lose that much.
But my question is: About what percentage of innovations fail?
Eclipse807 4 years ago
No doubt about it, we become more locked in on tried-and-true methods (being locked-in being the ultimate enemy of innovation). For me the question always is WHEN an innovation fails, not WHETHER it fails. Fast, small, smart failure's one thing; slow, big, dumb failure's another.
tlg847 4 years ago
What do you think of Charles Koch's market-based methods?
wogsland 4 years ago
Solid approach. As always, the key is execution. The older I get the more I find the devil is, in fact, in the doing. I've watched too many well-theorized initiatives sputter after the buzz wears off.
tlg847 4 years ago
Innovate: bring something new, or to do something old in a new way.
New ideas? Some say that everything that can be invented already has been.
Do something old in a new way? You'll have problems with patents an/or copyrights.
Unless you are a Microsoft with a large team of lawyers and oodles of cash, its a lost cause.
leutzdave 4 years ago
I couldn't disagree more. That line about new ideas is apocryphally attributed to a US Patent Office Commissioner, but it's bunk. "New" doesn't mean never seen before; it often means never seen in this way/context before. Doing old things in new ways doesn't necessarily mean copyright infringement. iPods innovative? Yup. Not because no MP3 players pre-existed but because none bundled with great software before. People innovate daily with no lawyers in sight.
tlg847 4 years ago
The copyright/patent holder waits till you make oodles of money and then they attack, just read the news, happens all the time.
leutzdave 4 years ago
Well, lots of things are in the news that happen all the time, not just copyright disputes. It seems you believe we're in a time of innovation paralysis. I don't see it that way. Every product category, supply chain approach, positioning strategy, etc. is undergoing enormous innovation today. It's the key to success. Read Gary Hamel's article in the current issue of Fortune for examples.
tlg847 4 years ago
There was a radio article recently how a design engineer devised turning indicators for bicycles based on the same RF technology used for wireless doorbells! Same technology, different application. Why didn't anyone think of it before? He's making a removable model just for the UK, where people tend to thieve things.
divalolo 4 years ago
That's a great example: new use for existing technology. (No copyright infringement; licensing.) Innovation is almost always obvious in retrospect, isn't it?
tlg847 4 years ago
"Connect the right people... right things [ideas]... right time, in the right way." Perhaps if the corporate leaders look at the cost of *not* doing things differently (the probably almost certain future) and see what's at stake then they could jump off the "cliff of risk" into an unknown or untested process.
divalolo 4 years ago
Especially if they start small. Finding a project, process or team that has a real intense need to innovate as a demonstration area is an approach we've been successful with for years. Then the results of new approaches are demonstrable within their own business. Thanks, divalolo.
tlg847 4 years ago
start smaller... what is innovate????
KGSGoFreak 4 years ago
Innovation is not part of the job discription.
Management supplies order.
Look at the direction that society has moved in the last 5000 years from hunter gather to agriculture. Growth as resulted from the creation of a controlled environment. The cell discovered this billions of years ago and it led to the development of new skills and an explosive growth of life.
httprover 4 years ago
The company I worked for taught me to admit your mistakes and move on. Never be offended by honest critique. Thanks Tom.
ockteby 4 years ago
Isn't innovation just the natural result of passion? I don't think the real innovators were people who went to meetings and were "reminded" to be innovative, they're just people who have a passion for what they're doing.
AndrewLife 4 years ago
Thanks Tom, wonderful words of wisdom!
carouselqueenmi 4 years ago
The best way to take innovation forward is to share "best practice" ideas with a view to making them more streamlined and more successful, and valuing your employees enough to make teamwork evaluations. Learn to trust your employees feedback, for they are the ones at the sharp end of any new innovations. Remember, they can tell you what will work and what won't. Great vlog Tom, loved it.
TamHickey67 4 years ago
Tom you wrote "A perfectly formed idea, delivered by a solitary genius, has a slim chance of being executed in a complex corporate setting because of intricate social factors" Wish someone had told me that early in my career.
Well I'm no genius and I make no claim that my ideas were perfectly formed but if I'd known that 35 years ago I could have applied that reality check to my ideas and saved a lot of work. Are you ever allowed to speak to new hires this realistically? aloha :)
MrRay47 4 years ago
I always learn so much watching your videos. Thank you, Tom!
Festerius2008 4 years ago
I appreciate that very much. Thanks.
tlg847 4 years ago
You can't think laterally? Of all people, Peter! You're one of the most "lateral thinkers" I've ever known! Thanks.
tlg847 4 years ago
I just saw you in the TED movie! Right after Peter Gabriel. That's a great video! I's love to go to that conference! Maybe I could get a job in the Goggle Cafe and sneak a peak! ha ha Great Documentary! Freida
geezerart 4 years ago
Yup...that was me for a fleeting second, Freida. TED is a remarkable experience. Starbucks does the coffee and the Google Cafe has become a regular feature...would love to see you there! Best. Tom
tlg847 4 years ago
good sound advice... we're "thinking" a lot at my work at the moment. But we need to step from thinking about change to actual change! Good time for me to hear this stuff - i think i'll use it in a team meeting :)
crex81 4 years ago
That is a very large step: from talking about change to working differently. It's a chasm many never cross! Good luck, Dave.
tlg847 4 years ago
Well I have some suggestions on how an organization can discourage innovation.. Be highly risk adverse, recognize only one innovator each year and make even that reward insignificant, make implementing and sharing innovations a difficult and unpleasant task.
Under those circumstances your bright but lazy employees will innovate to make their jobs easier but we, oops, they will keep it a secret, especially from management. aloha :)
MrRay47 4 years ago
Spoken like a man who's seen the world from inside a large organization! Those are perfect "how not to" examples. Thanks, Ray.
tlg847 4 years ago
That was a really great video! I like how much it makes sense. Are you doing a book?
TheaterOfMemory 4 years ago
Thanks, TOM. I just published a book about design literacy for non-designers; not sure I'll do one about innovation per se, but I might.
tlg847 4 years ago
Excellent look at the inner mechanics of the anti-innovation machine that's on auto-pilot in many organizations. Working with small nonprofits I have similar discussions but on a different scale, usually after somebody says, "But we've always done it X way." My battle is to tell them that the past is part of the discussion, but the past does not have veto power.
kenrg 4 years ago
Your comments about the past are dead on, ken. I enjoyed your non-profits and marketing video and I'm hoping to make a response vid soon.
tlg847 4 years ago
Hey, mik, thanks for stopping by. Sorry I'm not going to be able to make it to SouthTube this weekend...I'll bet it's a blast! Looking forward to the videos!
tlg847 4 years ago
khaya was here.
khayav 4 years ago
Hi khayav! Hope all's well.
tlg847 4 years ago
A point ya almost touched on is the fact, that some times going back to the basics can be innovative, take for example Kettle Corn, which was how it use to be done, and now its considered "innovative."
UncleJohn97420 4 years ago
Excellent point: returning to basics with a "new mindset" is often the source of innovation. It's that mindset that's the key. Thanks.
tlg847 4 years ago
Hi Tom,
Greetings from sunny Chicago, Illinois and on my birthday no less! I enjoyed what you had to say very much. It rang true a lot with what Jim Collins wrote in "Good To Great", a fabulous book that I'm reading right now.
Robert
vancouver57 4 years ago
Well, happy birthday, Robert, and thanks for the Jim Collins comparison. That book's a classic and contains some valuable lessons. I'm sure you'll enjoy it. Enjoy the sunshine...as we know, winter in Chicago isn't all that much fun (having spent four of them there, myself!) It is, however, one of the world's great cities.
tlg847 4 years ago
Your right. "Innovate" is a word that is sort of bantered around willy nillilly a LOT without actually being done most of the time. I am a fan of the idea of the the solitary creator though. :) I think sometimes vision can be better then committee. Depends on the people yeah. Always interesting coming here Tom. Never a second wasted, straight to the point. Love that.
DrLemur 4 years ago
1. Thanks, Dan. No doubt about it: solitary creative geniuses produce world-changing things. In business, the trick is getting things done; actually executed. The best ideas in the world are unimportant to businesses if they can't be implemented.
tlg847 4 years ago
2. A perfectly formed idea, delivered by a solitary genius, has a slim chance of being executed in a complex corporate setting because of intricate social factors. Symphonies by committee? Never. New product inspirations by committee? Hmm...sometimes. Making sure things will get done by "committee"...much better chance.
tlg847 4 years ago
That makes a lot of sense.
DrLemur 4 years ago
You are such a smart man and everything you just said can also apply to life situation also.
Fringe111 4 years ago
Thanks for the kind words. I think the thing I find most interesting about business consulting is the point you make: the lessons are interchangeable with ways to improve our lives overall.
tlg847 4 years ago
That's really true
Fringe111 4 years ago
Change is needed to have any kind of growth, and you have to examine your belief system on a regular basis to effect change. To many people are stuck in rut because they are unwilling to change in a changing enviroment.
vmanvand 4 years ago
So simple for us to say this; so hard for us to do. Thanks.
tlg847 4 years ago
Really enjoyed this one too. Sometimes I have to listen to parts a few times, because I lose focus very quickly. But eventually I get it all. I can identify with the 'things won't get better' or 'that good idea will never happen' defeatist prophecies. Sometimes these are legitimate claims because of politics or excessively self-interested employees. Sometimes it's just an excuse to keep being comfortably marginal or not have to think too hard.
poopslingingmonkey 4 years ago
Having just left a session in our staff conference where the discussion was around doing things differently this was a most timely video.
(still debating whether to send the link to my boss or whether that betrays too much cynicism!)
talk74 4 years ago
Well given you've made this comment, it would seem unwise to give them the link, but perhaps Tom would be ok with you taking it from your cache and forwarding it to them merely asking what they think of it, rather than treating it as an indictment of your colleagues or organization. But that's just me, I'm a firm believer in keeping my internet life separate.
poopslingingmonkey 4 years ago
Speaking of corporate "Innovation", have you heard of the new eBay "Seller Non Performance Policy"? Now there's a cubicle bay I'd like to see removed from existence... :-)
ShermerIllinois 4 years ago
I'd actually not heard of the policy before you brought it up. I Googled it and read it. I'm not an intense eBay user so I'm sure I'm missing the subtleties but on first blush it looked reasonable to me. What am I missing?
tlg847 4 years ago
Yes, it was an excellent idea, but the execution turned out to be more like a heavy handed, Draconian "market eugenics".
At first glance it seems that 5% negative feedback will get you suspended from selling for two weeks. In practice it is only *two negatives OR neutrals* in a two week period... big difference.
There are people who've been selling from '98 on with 99% - 100% positive feedback that have been suspended because UPS botched a couple deliveries, etc. Really scary.
ShermerIllinois 4 years ago
Got it. Knew I didn't understand the issue well enough to appreciate the problems. Thanks for the education.
tlg847 4 years ago