Rules of Engagement - Part 2

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4

2) Be productive or be quiet. No armchair quarterbacking. It’s really easy to say what the problems are. It’s much harder to come up with solutions. 95% of the people in the world will be more than happy to tell you what is wrong with a situation. 2.8% will have some type of knee-jerk solution to offer up short term fix to the problem. These tend to be short sided and biased toward whatever department the person with the idea works in. 2% will actually be trying to think of the big picture, but not willing to put forth the effort to really fox the problem. “A” for effort, but that’s about it. It’s only about .2% who are willing to actually put forth the effort to solve the problem and follow through to make sure it was a success. You are that .2%, like it or not. Take it seriously. Make some real change. This involves the dreaded words in business – “Take a chance” and “Do the work.” GASP! Too many companies today have a corporate culture of cover your butt and tow the line. No great innovation EVER comes from this mentality. The key is to not necessarily make huge quantum shifts. That’s too risky and too much to ask of most people. But making incremental and measurable change toward a quantum shift is fine. In the end, it’ll take longer, but it will minimize risk, keep everyone motivated, and it just makes good business sense.