Lose Your Best Friend
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We’ve all had best friends, good friends, not-so-good friends, and so on. I want to talk about that friend who’s not so good for you, doesn’t make you better, and, if anything, inspires and enables you to do worse.
Parents warn their children not to hang out with the wrong crowd; mine did as I was growing up. My dad and mom told me these “bad eggs” might lure me into doing the wrong things.
In our business lives, we can adopt bad outlooks and attitudes that become comfortable to us; they become “friends” who don’t have our best interests in mind. In my decades of working with great companies, it’s been fascinating to see how many of them “get in their own way” and fall short of all they could achieve due to the inner narrative or accepted negative talk within their four walls.
Here are some of the “friends” I’m referring to:
Excuses. At many businesses, it’s common to hear team members openly discuss the various reasons they fall short, even utilizing their creativity to concoct rationales that aren’t real to support their misery.
Complexity. Larger businesses can create a labyrinth of complications that make it all but impossible to move or progress at a decent pace. They have too many “toos”—people with too little responsibility who are too busy to meet, so decisions go unmade until, often, it’s too late.
Apathy. In other company cultures, it’s ok to openly share that you don’t care or that the customer is merely an inconvenience and often the butt of jokes or derogatory comments.
Self-Importance. Many successful companies adopt a culture of self-importance that comes through loud and clear when dealing with vendors or disregarding the customer. They become “married” to how important they are, dismissing the wishes of the lowly customer or supplier, because “they are not one of us.” I met with an iconic worldwide brand, and they told me, “We sometimes talk about how great we are and can’t fathom how we’ve achieved so much, other than we’re just great.” A couple of years later, their sales and market share plummeted, and they were humbled.
Defeat. And there are companies where people feel lackadaisical and expect that they’ll continue to lose forever. There’s hopelessness, an expectation that the other shoe will eventually drop and that the team is made up of powerless victims of the situation.
It’s time to break up. Our only answer is to break up with these “friends.” Sure, we’re comfortable with them and they accept (and often reinforce) our weaknesses, but they are not good for us. The divorce will be difficult; it will feel uncomfortable, maybe a bit lonely, but it’s what is healthiest for all.
Difference-Maker #1: It takes courage.
Great leaders like Jonathan Randall, President of Mack Trucks, stand up and rid their teams of these bad influences. At a previous organization, Jonathan was leading a team that had become complacent and self-important. He let them know that they were no longer the focal point; the customer was. In our Difference Talks podcast, he shared that his staff had become more focused on themselves rather than on the people who paid their salaries (customers). It shook up the organization, because it meant losing their old friend (arrogance) but, ultimately, the culture strengthened as the brand captured significant customer loyalty and market share.
Difference-Maker #2: Never give up.
On our podcast, Jason Freier of Hardball Capital shared his story of traveling to Fort Wayne, Indiana, to convince the community to invest millions of dollars with him to build a downtown baseball stadium. He met with many locals who—deflated from years of initiatives that fell short—were defeatists. He rallied the city leaders to say goodbye to their friend (hopelessness) and transform the city. Crack houses and condemned buildings were torn down and replaced with an award-winning ballpark and other amenities that have served hundreds of thousands of people in the community. It has earned distinction as the premier baseball stadium in Minor League Baseball and has become a key economic advantage for the city.
These leaders needed to urge others to break up with their “friends” and start associating with healthier ones. Is it time for a breakup within your organization?
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