Become a Company of Giants
April 1st, 2010A friend of mine told me he heard a speech recently by a Ph. D. in physics. This man earned his degree about 20 years ago. He made this statement: “More than half of the correct answers I gave on my finals 20 years ago are no longer true. What we have learned in science in the past 20 years has yielded new truths that didn’t exist 20 years ago.”
We get it in science, but we don’t get it with people. We need to change and build upon what we now know about people to foster engagement in the workplace.
What is true today? Motivation – therefore engagement – comes from loving what you do. You love what you do when you’re in the right position and growing.
David Ogilvy said: “If each of us hires people who are smaller than we are, we shall become a company of dwarfs. But if each of us hires people bigger than we are, [we] will become a company of giants.”
People want to achieve at their highest level of potential. They want to be seen in the best light. They want to be fully engaged. Your people are your most important asset and therefore your responsibility. Help them love what they do and they are yours – fully engaged.
September 18th, 2009 at 4:29 pm
Terri: You are right about some things being true today just as they were many years ago. In the marketing world, we often say “It’s the customer, stupid.” because we often forget that our business originated with an idea to create and satisfy a customer. Yet, we tend to get off track. The problems at the automakers is the result of worrying more about unions and dealers than about the customers who buy the cars. Peter DRucker once said that the two basic (and only these two) functions of an enterprise are “innovation and marketing” and that all the rest are just expenses. These two functions are built around people including those inside the organization. if we don’t market our company to our employees, how do we expect them to stay enthused about working here. if we don’t innovate, our employees will get bored and lose interest. And if that happens, we lose customers!