20 Exploit the Employee

Some companies operate with an exploit the employee approach.

Some companies reason that employees are out to take advantage of them, so the company should get everything it can from the employee. A company may figure that it is paying the employee good money and that therefore nothing more is due or expected. If the employee doesn’t like it, the employee can go somewhere else. After all, there are many other people the company could hire. But will an exploit the employee approach attract and keep the best employees?

Exploiting the employee can be a mistake.

21 Emphasizing Rules over Creativity

As important as procedures and rules are to business success, if they are disproportionately emphasized over creativity, the business may suffer.

Rules and procedures provide guidance to assure consistent, uniform performance. Rules and procedures that promote consistency can lead to customer satisfaction and loyalty. But rules and procedures, blindly followed, can be dangerous. Often, the right decision requires creativity to do something that had not been previously considered. Creativity can enhance and extend the impact of rules and procedures.

Relying on rules and procedures at the expense of creativity can be a mistake.

22 Exploit the Supplier

Some companies adopt an exploit the supplier approach.

The companies that adopt an exploit the supplier approach reason that they are paying the supplier good money and therefore should get everything they possibly can out of the supplier. The company may feel that what they don’t take from the supplier, the supplier will take from them. So the company approaches its dealings with suppliers from an exploitative, as contrasted to a cooperative approach. But will exploit the supplier motivate the best suppliers to want to do business with the company over the long term?

Exploiting the supplier can be a mistake.

23 Exploit the Customer

Some companies and executives operate with an exploit the customer approach.

The apparent justification to the exploit the customer approach is that it’s just a transaction, the customer should look after himself, and if the customer doesn’t like it, that is the customer’s tough luck. After all, there are many customers and any unhappy current customer can be replaced. Further, the business reasons that its purpose is to get as much advantage, economic gain, and benefit from the customer as possible. But will exploiting the customer build a lasting customer base?

Exploiting the customer can be a mistake.

24 Pollute the Environment

Some companies operate with the idea that they may as well just get rid of their waste by throwing it away and spewing it into the air, water, or ground.

Those companies seem not to care about others. Maybe those companies simply do not think about it. Maybe they justify their behavior by saying everyone does it. Maybe they rationalize what they do by claiming they cannot afford to pay the costs of their own cleanup and waste removal. Separate and apart from the irresponsibility of such conduct, extraordinary legal liability including fines, damages, and criminal charges can result from such conduct.

Polluting the environment can be a very expensive mistake.

25 Emphasizing Getting it Done over Getting it Right

Some companies are so insistent on getting it done that they subordinate any concerns for getting it right.

As important as getting it done is, there can be a downside to an excessive do it now approach that does not take into consideration the consequences of such an approach. The thinking is that it is better to get it done and then get it right later, than not to get it done. While in some instances this approach may be the best approach, in other instances it is not. You need to be discerning as to when it is appropriate to consider the consequences in advance.

Emphasizing getting it done over getting it right can be a mistake.

26 Too Much in a Hurry to Get it Right

One of the mantras of business today is speed.

Speed in business takes the form of compressed cycle times, fast turnaround, prompt responses to inquiries and short production cycles. Aggressive, result-oriented leaders insist on a do-it-now mentality rather than a do-it-later or do-it-sometime approach. But if you are in too much of a hurry to get it done, if you fail to take the time to think it through carefully, if you fail to get it right, you may find you miscalculate.

Being in too much of a hurry to get it done can be a mistake.

27 Insufficient Consultation before Making Important Decisions

Research has shown that multiple inputs to decisions are often superior to very limited input.

Anyone who has attended an effective case-discussion-based learning environment, such as that employed at Harvard Business School and certain other schools that emphasize the case method, readily recognizes that others can bring a perspective, point of view, or frame of reference to a decision that may be very different from how a single individual might approach that decision. By gaining more points of view, a manager may make superior decisions. If insufficient attention is directed to others’ points of view, decisions may be overly narrow.

To make a decision without gaining access to sufficient points of view can be a mistake.

28 Not Retaining an Advisor

Many executives employ a lone wolf, go-it-alone style. Rather than retaining a professional advisor, these executives rely on their own insights.

There can be various reasons executives choose not to retain a professional advisor.
Working with a professional advisor can take more time than going it alone. The advisor may come up with ideas or issues that slow down the program or involve additional costs to address. The executive may perceive that too much education is required to get the advisor up to speed. A strong-minded executive may presume that no advisor knows as much as he does.

An effective professional advisor can, however, add immeasurably to the business success. Some of the most savvy, successful executives assert that they cannot afford to do business if they do not have the right professional advisor.

Not hiring a professional advisor can be a mistake.

29 No Consultants Allowed

Some executives and some companies refuse to work with consultants.

There may be many reasons executives and companies refuse to work with consultants:
bad prior experience, disinclination to spend resources, fear of change, etc. Just as sometimes there may not be a good fit between a person and an organization, so, too, sometimes there may not be a good fit between a consultant and an organization. Merely because one person has not worked effectively in a particular organization, does that mean you would reject consideration of another person, who might work effectively in that organization? To reject consultants without objectively considering the contributions that consultants can make reflects similar thinking, and can deny you access to some of the extraordinarily positive things that consultants can add to organizations.

Rejecting consultants out of hand can be a mistake.

Stay tuned, we will talk about the last 7 philosophy concepts.