Are You A Short Order Cook/Fundraiser?
Very often, marketing guru Seth Godin’s briefest posts are his most penetrating.
His recent Short order cooks rarely make change happen is a good example. His point is captured in two questions:
“How far in the future does your agenda extend?
One way to tell: of the things you worked on last week, how many were due last week?”
In other words, how much of your work last week was focused on meeting a short-term deadline or ’emergency’ or ‘crisis’ or demand from the boss? How many items on your ‘Must Do’ list for this week represent more of the same?
Last week I raised the issue of when to focus on change versus consistency.
Consistency (which, as Roger argues here, has plenty of virtue) implies a focus on today — making sure the ‘here and now’ tracks with the proven past. Can’t be a shorter-term work horizon or agenda than that. Nor much heavy lifting.
What Godin is saying is that change requires a longer-term (and forward-looking) agenda. How much time have you reserved for your ‘change agenda’ on your ‘Must do’ schedule for the week?
‘Must do’ usually relates to keeping the train on schedule, not to changing destinations.
Tom
Behavioral Science Q & A
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