In this episode, we explore a strange paradox that is crucial in understanding how to guide any kind of desired change. So often, it seems, I’ve met up with business execs for whom the only thing that matters is the money. In a big corporation, it’s often about the current quarter and the stock-price; in a smaller business, it’s often about immediate cash-flow; in a non-profit, or government, there’s an endless obsession about monetary costs.
Excellent piece, as always, Tom. This performance paradox may be one of the root-causes of so much dysfunction in both business and society at the moment. We have focused so much on producing outcomes, that we have forgotten that the joy of doing (and of doing them well) is itself an outcome. An outcome that in terms of happiness and well-being trumps almost all other outcomes. I was just reading a piece about Loui van Gaal - the coach of the Dutch Men's Football team. He confesses somewhere that he doesn't actually care much about winning matches. What he wants to see is that his team played to the best of their abilities, and occasionally even a bit beyond that. He wants to see them play with passion and joy. And he wants to see them learn. The goals and the victories are to him a side-effect of that passion and learning. Of course, most people reading that thought he was kidding, or that he was going crazy. Yet, he has been able - time and time again - to shape teams that played well beyond everyone's expectations.
What if we ran our enterprises in the same way? What if we focus mostly on the passion, the learning and the joy of doing meaningful things and doing them well? What if we let go of the short-term goals as a way of measuring and controlling our performance? What if we can set our goals high and daring and then work for the sheer pleasure of learning how to get there? Even if we never get there, the journey will be the reward and a valuable outcome in itself.
Excellent piece, as always, Tom. This performance paradox may be one of the root-causes of so much dysfunction in both business and society at the moment. We have focused so much on producing outcomes, that we have forgotten that the joy of doing (and of doing them well) is itself an outcome. An outcome that in terms of happiness and well-being trumps almost all other outcomes. I was just reading a piece about Loui van Gaal - the coach of the Dutch Men's Football team. He confesses somewhere that he doesn't actually care much about winning matches. What he wants to see is that his team played to the best of their abilities, and occasionally even a bit beyond that. He wants to see them play with passion and joy. And he wants to see them learn. The goals and the victories are to him a side-effect of that passion and learning. Of course, most people reading that thought he was kidding, or that he was going crazy. Yet, he has been able - time and time again - to shape teams that played well beyond everyone's expectations.
What if we ran our enterprises in the same way? What if we focus mostly on the passion, the learning and the joy of doing meaningful things and doing them well? What if we let go of the short-term goals as a way of measuring and controlling our performance? What if we can set our goals high and daring and then work for the sheer pleasure of learning how to get there? Even if we never get there, the journey will be the reward and a valuable outcome in itself.
Some may say I am a dreamer....