"A gazillion-dollar brain scanner doesn’t hold more predictive power than one marshmallow.”

I came across a great political cartoon published in the magazine, The New Yorker, a few years ago:

"You can eat the one marshmallow right now, or, if you wait fifteen minutes,
I'll give you two marshmallows and swear you in as President of the United States."

Pretty funny, right?  If the individual in the cartoon can refrain from eating the marshmallow, his reward is a second marshmallow and becoming President of the United States! 

I've posted a few times on the infamous "Stanford marshmallow experiment" (see, for example, "What do I know of man's destiny? I could tell you more about radishes.").  Just to jog your memory, this was the test of delayed gratification in which children were given the option of eating one marshmallow now, or sitting alone with the marshmallow for a few minutes and getting a second marshmallow if they didn't eat the first one.  In other words, exactly like the cartoon above. 

 

There are numerous videos on the Internet that show the lengths that some of these children would go to in order to keep themselves from eating the marshmallow.  Supposedly, those children who were able to refrain from eating the first marshmallow (and get a second marshmallow to eat as a reward) had better long-term life outcomes, as measured by college SAT scores, educational attainment, body mass index, and job salary. 

The American scientist Robert Sapolsky had this to say about the original marshmallow experiment, published by Stanford psychologist Walter Mischel:

“Mischel’s next step made his studies iconic — he tracked the kids forward, seeing if marshmallow wait time predicted anything about their adulthoods.  Five-year-old champs at marshmallow patience averaged higher SAT scores in high school (compared with those who couldn’t wait).  Forty years post-marshmallow, they excelled at frontal function, had more PFC [Prefrontal cortex] activation during a frontal task, and had lower BMIs. A gazillion-dollar brain scanner doesn’t hold more predictive power than one marshmallow.”  

  

Incidentally, a much larger study (with 10x the number of subjects) was performed later, and the results weren't quite as impressive.  In the repeat study, these associations between delayed gratification and long-term life outcomes were not nearly as significant, with socioeconomic background playing a much greater role in determining success.

"Waiting for the barbarians"

One of the Greek poet C.P. Cavafy's most acclaimed poems is called "Waiting for the Barbarians".  It was first written in Greek in 1898 and first published in Egypt in 1904.  The poem describes a day in the life of a failing city-state (presumably, ancient Rome towards the end of the Roman Empire), because the citizens and leaders are waiting to welcome the conquering barbarians.

The citizens have gathered together in the city square (the forum) and are waiting for the barbarians.  The senators are not making laws - because the barbarians are coming (why make new laws when the barbarians will come and change them all anyway?).  The emperor and other leaders (the two consuls and praetors) are sitting and waiting at the gate wearing their best dress and jewelry (because that impresses the barbarians).  No one is making speeches in the forum - again, they are waiting for the barbarians and the barbarians don't like listening to speeches.

The last stanza of the poem (see below) is particularly poignant.  The people are disappointed because they have learned that the barbarians aren't actually coming today.  In fact, they have learned from some of their soldiers that the barbarians aren't coming at all.  They are now left asking themselves, "Now what are we supposed to do?"

Sound familiar?  Think about it - the change management guru, John Kotter famously described a 8-step change model that starts with "Create a sense of urgency."  People aren't motivated to change unless there is a so-called "burning platform", say, for example, like an organization that is starting to fail and is at risk of a hostile takeover, a health care organization that is suddenly competing with another hospital on the other side of town, or even a city-state that is being invaded by barbarians.  Once they "see" that they have to change, the people will change.  It's almost like the proverbial barbarians are going to save the city!
. 
The problem is that the barbarians aren't going to save the city.  The people in this city were looking for the wrong solution.  Burning platforms don't always work.  As a matter of fact, some have argued that really strong leaders never use the "burning platform" analogy as a way to motivate their teams. 

Just take a look at what happens in the poem.  Everyone is waiting for the barbarians to come and change things - presumably so that the city-state will eventually get back on the right track to prosperity (which is kind of an odd way to think, in my humble opinion).  But when they don't come, rather than being thankful or relieved, everyone is greatly disappointed! 

The lesson here is not to wait for the barbarians to save the day.  Because they won't.  And they may actually never even come.  Indeed, there are better solutions to the problems that an organization faces.  Our job as leaders is to find those solutions.

Here is the poem in its entirety.

What are we waiting for, assembled in the forum?
 

      The barbarians are due here today.
 

Why isn’t anything going on in the senate?

Why are the senators sitting there without legislating?
 

      Because the barbarians are coming today.

      What’s the point of senators making laws now?

      Once the barbarians are here, they’ll do the legislating.
 

Why did our emperor get up so early,

and why is he sitting enthroned at the city’s main gate,

in state, wearing the crown?
 

      Because the barbarians are coming today

      and the emperor’s waiting to receive their leader.

      He’s even got a scroll to give him,

      loaded with titles, with imposing names.
 

Why have our two consuls and praetors come out today

wearing their embroidered, their scarlet togas?

Why have they put on bracelets with so many amethysts,

rings sparkling with magnificent emeralds?

Why are they carrying elegant canes

beautifully worked in silver and gold?
 

      Because the barbarians are coming today

      and things like that dazzle the barbarians.
 

Why don’t our distinguished orators turn up as usual

to make their speeches, say what they have to say?
 

      Because the barbarians are coming today

      and they’re bored by rhetoric and public speaking.
 

Why this sudden bewilderment, this confusion?

(How serious people’s faces have become.)

Why are the streets and squares emptying so rapidly,

everyone going home lost in thought?
 

      Because night has fallen and the barbarians haven't come.

      And some of our men just in from the border say

      there are no barbarians any longer.
 

Now what’s going to happen to us without barbarians?

Those people were a kind of solution.

"The secret of the true scholar"

The philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, "Shall I tell you the secret of the true scholar?  It is this: Every man I meet is my master in some point, and in that I learn of him."  Think about that for a minute.  Emerson is basically saying that no matter who we meet, he or she knows more about something than we do.  It doesn't matter if we know collectively more about a lot of different things compare to that person, in all likelihood he or she will know more about at least one thing that we don't know much about.  What all of this means is that we should take advantage of every opportunity to learn something from every single person that we meet. 

John F. Kennedy once said, "Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other."  What does that exactly mean?  Well, Webster's Online Dictionary defines the word indispensable as absolutely necessary.  Based on that definition, then, Kennedy is emphatically stating in no uncertain terms that leaders must be learners. 

The author Brian Herbert (the oldest son of the science fiction writer, Frank Herbert, author of the Dune series) said this, "The capacity to learn is a gift; the ability to learn is a skill; the willingness to learn is a choice."  In other words, we can choose to walk around this world with our eyes open and learning, or we can choose to walk around this world with our eyes closed and not learning.

Putting it all together then, leadership is dependent upon accepting, with confident humility, that there is always something that we, as individuals, can learn.  We must actively choose to be open to learning from others, even those who report to us.  Learning is an active process.  So is leadership.  By choosing to lead, we must first choose to learn.

"Happiness is the highest form of health"

The 14th Dalai Lama wrote a book in 1998 called "The Art of Happiness".  He has lectured widely on how to achieve happiness and once said, among other things that "happiness is the highest form of health."  Maybe he had the following study in mind.  Investigators in the Department of Psychology at Carnegie Mellon University enrolled 334 healthy volunteers (no really, they volunteered!) ranging in age from 18 to 54 years and assessed their overall tendency to be happy.  Some of the subjects experienced largely positive emotions such as happy, pleased, and relaxed, while others reporting experiencing largely negative emotions, such as depressed, anxious, or stressed out. 

Here's where it gets crazy.  Everyone was placed in quarantine and infected with one of two rhinoviruses (they were given nasal drops containing virus).  They were kept in quarantine to see which group developed signs and symptoms of the common cold (rhinovirus causes the common cold).  For both strains of virus, positive emotions was strongly associated with a decreased risk of developing a cold.  Conversely, negative emotions was not associated with either an increased risk or decreased risk of developing a cold.  These associations held true even after controlling for age, gender, and a number of other factors.

These same investigators conducted a follow-up study that showed similar results with the influenza virus.  In other words, individuals who demonstrated largely positive emotions were more resistant to viral infections!  The results of these studies are absolutely incredible!  Being happy actually increases your immune system's ability to fight off common infections.

The Dalai Lama could not have been more correct.  "Happiness is the highest form of health."  My wife has always told our kids and I, whenever one of us has been down, to remember the "power of positive thinking."  She was right too.  Having a positive attitude is incredibly liberating AND keeps us in a healthier state of mind, body, and spirit. 

We, as leaders, owe it to our teams to be optimistic and have a positive attitude.  I will leave you with one last quote, by Harry Truman, the 33rd President of the United States.  He said:

"A pessimist is one who makes DIFFICULTIES of his opportunities and an optimist is one who makes OPPORTUNITIES of his difficulties."

Think about it.  There is power in having a positive attitude. 

The Blue Marble Project

It is one of the most famous pictures known, an image of our planet Earth taken on December 7, 1972 by the astronauts of Apollo 17 approximately 18,000 miles away on their voyage to the Moon.  Officially, it is known as NASA image AS17-148-22727, but we know it simply as "The Blue Marble".  It is absolutely beautiful:



The astronomer Carl Sagan described our planet as a "pale blue dot" when seen from a million miles away.  He went on to say, "That's home.  That's us.  On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives...There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world.  To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we've ever known."

A few years ago, the writer and marine biologist, Wallace J. Nichols (I referred to his latest book, Blue Mind in my last post) stood outside the Simons IMAX Theatre at Boston's New England Aquarium before giving a lecture there.  As the crowd entered, Nichols handed each person a shiny blue marble.  When asked, "What's this for?' he answered simply, "You'll find out." 

Towards the end of his presentation, he told the audience, "Pull out the blue marble and hold it at arm's length in front of you and look at it.  That's what Earth looks like from a million miles away: a small, blue, fragile, watery dot.  Now, bring the marble close to your eye, and look at the light.  If that marble actually were made of seawater, it would contain trace amounts of virtually every element.  It would hold hundreds of millions of organisms - plankton, larvae, single-celled creatures - in that one spoonful."

"Now, think of someone you're grateful for.  Perhaps someone who loves the water, or is helping keep the planet's waters clean and safe and healthy.  Or just someone you are grateful to have in your life.  When was the last time you told them that you appreciate them, if ever?  Think of how good it would feel to you and to them if you randomly gave them this marble as a way of saying thank you.  It's such a simple thing, but we don't say it enough."

"Take this marble with you, and when you get the chance, give it to that person you thought of.  Tell them the story of what this marble represents - both our blue planet and your gratitude.  Ask them to pass the marble along to someone else.  It's a reminder to us all to be grateful, for each other and for our beautiful world."

And with that, the The Blue Marble Project began.  The rules are simple.  The marble has to be blue. And you have to pass it along and thank the person that you give it to, for what they do.  You may or may not have heard of the project, but don't be surprised if someone gives you a blue marble.  The movie director and underwater explorer, James Cameron has taken one to the deepest part of the ocean.  Other famous people, like the Dalai Lama, Jane Goodall, Harrison Ford, Jean-Michel Cousteau, Susan Sarandon, Leonardo DiCaprio, and even the CEO of British Petroleum have held a blue marble in their hands as a result of this project. 

It is a beautiful way to express our gratitude, and an even more beautiful way to remember our planet.  As Nichols writes in his book, Blue Mind, "Each blue marble tells us that everything we do on this planet matters...There is an interdependency with the natural world that goes beyond ecosystems, biodiversity, or economic benefits."  In the end, we need each other.

Back to nature

According to research conducted by Microsoft, the average person sends and receives more than 100 e-mail messages per day.  But that's just the tip of the iceberg - that same person will check their cell phone 34 times per day, visit Facebook 5 times per day, and up to 30 minutes (again, this is an average) at least 30 minutes per day "liking" things and text messaging friends.  If you combine all of the time spent on social media, surfing the Internet, checking e-mail, and text messaging over the course of an entire year, the average person spends 90 eight-hour work days per year on activities that one could certainly argue are non-productive.

That's just the beginning.  The author and cognitive psychologist, Daniel Goleman, has stated that I can take up to 10-15 minutes to regain full focus after even a brief distractions (say, checking your cell phone or a text message).  The personal cost of lost focus and productivity is staggering - we talk all the time about always "playing catch up", working after hours or on the weekends, and "pulling all-nighters."  And we drink coffee, caffeinated soft drinks, or "energy shots" so that we can do these things.  The so-called "safe level" of caffeine intake is generally considered to be about 400 mg per day, which translates roughly to about 4 cups of coffee per day.  Note that the average coffee drinker in the U.S. drinks 3.2 cups per day, which is getting fairly close to the safe limit. 

We hear a lot these days about stress and burnout and the impact they have on both our personal and professional lives.  Similarly, in the same vein we hear a lot of talk about mindfulness and how techniques such as deep breathing, meditation, or even yoga can be used to reduce stress and the signs and symptoms of burnout.  Have we ever considered, though, that the cure for stress, burnout, and industrial disease may be just outside of our window?

Getting outside and experiencing nature firsthand can be highly restorative.  There are now several studies showing that experiencing nature can reduce stress, relieve anxiety, and improve overall well-being.  For example, spending at least 120 minutes per week in nature (that's just a little under 20 minutes per day) can benefit both health and well-being.  And you don't have to go to the mountains, the beach, or the national park to get these kinds of benefits - spending time in the local park or other urban green space appears to be just as effective.


In another study, University of Michigan undergraduate students underwent cognitive, attention, and short-term memory testing both before and after taking a walk.  They were randomized to two groups - the first group took a 50-55 minute walk in a park near campus, while the second group walked the same distance downtown.  Cognitive test scores significantly improved in the nature vs. downtown group, both from the pre-walk baseline and when compared directly.  In other words, even if you live in an urban environment, finding time to walk outside in a park or any green space can be extremely helpful.

More importantly, the healing powers of nature may be just as powerful when experienced through art or even just out the window.  Experiencing nature through a window, an aquarium, or artwork has been show to help hospitalized patients both feel better and recover faster.  For example, in a classic study conducted (published as an abstract only) in 1993 by Ulrich, Lunden, and Eltinge, patients recovering from heart surgery looked at one of three different scenes in their room - a forest scene, a view of open water, or an abstract design.  Patients looking at the forest scene required less pain medication and were less anxious, but the results were most dramatic with the patients who were looking at the open water scene.  Hospitals have recognized these benefits and have increasingly incorporated nature into the design of their patient rooms.

If you are interested in more about this particular topic, there's a recent book by Dr. Wallace J. Nichols on the healing and restorative powers of water, called Blue Mind: The Surprising Science That Shows How Being Near, In, On, or Under Water Can Make You Happier, Healthier, More Connected, and Better at What You Do.  It's absolutely fascinating the health and wellness benefits people derive from working and playing around water (rivers, lakes, and oceans).  I know that I personally feel recharged after a few days at the beach! 

With all the hustle and bustle of today's world, it seems like we could do ourselves a huge favor by taking a few minutes (and it probably only needs to be 15 or 20 minutes) a day enjoying nature.  The scientific evidence is there.  Spend a few less minutes per day on social media or on your cell phone, and use that time to go outside and experience firsthand this beautiful world of ours.  What more do you need to convince you to get back to nature? 

"Beam me up, Scottie!"

When my sister and I were growing up, we were lucky enough to live in a neighborhood with a lot of kids our age.  It didn't always happen, but there were a lot of times when all of us would play together.  I remember a couple of times playing "Star Trek" in our garage.  The garage didn't have windows, and of course the garage door was closed, so it was always dark (and frequently hot, since most of the time we were playing over summer break).  We would set up table and chairs to recreate the command deck of the U.S.S. Enterprise.  The older kids would usually get to play Captain Kirk, Spock (he was always the most popular among us kids), and Scottie, the Chief Engineer.  I would usually get stuck playing Mr. Chekov or one of the other minor characters.  It was still a lot of fun!

Now this all occurred before all of the Star Trek movies and spin-offs - the original TV series aired from 1966 to 1969, so we were only familiar with the show because it frequently played after school in syndication.  I'm not necessarily a huge Star Trek fan (I wouldn't call myself a "Trekkie" at all), but I still enjoyed watching the show back then.  My interest in the science fiction genre really took off after the release of the movie, Star Wars in 1977.  That's when my world really changed.

One of the really great things about the science fiction genre is the fact that, in a way, we get to see a glimpse into the future (well, technically, the "Star Wars" universe occurred "a long time ago" but you get the idea).  Just think of all the cool gadgets and advances in technology that we first saw in science fiction and have since become reality.  Remember the final battle scenes in "Star Wars" when the Rebel Base Commander nervously asked Luke Skywalker if things were okay because he had switched off his targeting computer (Obi Wan tells him to "Use the Force, Luke!  Let Go.  Luke, trust me!").  I thought that was the coolest thing ever, but now just look at modern fighter pilots and how they use a "heads up display" (which is way more advanced than Luke's targeting computer).

Captain Kirk's handheld communicator was pretty cool too.  But did you know that the communicator inspired Motorola to develop the cellular phone.  Have you ever used telemedicine for health care?  Do you remember this episode of the animated television series, The Jetsons?  Do you have an Apple Watch?  Thank the comic strip Dick Tracy for the inspiration for that device.  Do you wear ear buds?  Thank Star Trek (again) and Lieutenant Uhura for that one.  Tablet computers, self-driving cars, 3D printers, voice-activated computers (e.g., Alexa), even submarines (think Captain Nemo's submarine, the Nautilus from Jules Verne's Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea) - they were all inspired by science fiction.

It's no wonder that technology and computer companies are looking to science fiction writers for inspiration, even now.  As Tom Standage, a science writer and deputy editor of The Economist writes in an article appearing in the magazine's annual  edition, "The World in 2020", "Science fiction can play a useful role as a forward-scanning radar for technological, social, and political trends - but in the near term, not the distant future in which it is often set."  Just consider in the "Star Trek: The Next Generation" episode, "The High Ground" which first aired in 1990, one of the crew members is trying to defuse a hostage situation and draws an analogy to the fictional "Irish Unification of 2024" - it may have been far-fetched back in 1990, but with the looming Brexit, a re-unification of Northern Ireland with the rest of Ireland doesn't seem that far off now. 

Eliot Peper wrote an article in the Harvard Business Review and argued, "Although we tend to assume that science fiction is about the future, it’s actually about the present."  Science fiction challenges us to think differently.  We may see a different solution to current problems.  Or we may even be challenged to create the future we see in a science fiction movie or novel (think again about the cellular phone).  Peper goes on to say, "Science fiction isn’t useful because it’s predictive. It’s useful because it reframes our perspective on the world. Like international travel or meditation, it creates space for us to question our assumptions."

It's all about broadening your horizons.  As anyone who reads this blog knows, I read a lot for pleasure.  Most of the books I read are non-fiction, and there's a good bet that at any given time, I am reading a book about history.  However, I've tried recently to incorporate reading from a variety of genres - science fiction, dystopia novels, poetry, classical literature, and even historical fiction.  They all have something to teach me.  Who knows, maybe one day someone will be inspired by the television show, Star Trek to create a teleportation device so we can really say, "Beam me up, Scottie!"

"Success is a lousy teacher..."

To the ancient Greeks, hubris referred to extreme pride, ambition, and over-confidence that was so great that it often offended the gods.  In the usual scenario, an overabundance of pride led a hero (think of the greek hero Achilles as one example) to attempt something beyond what mere mortals were capable of achieving and assuming near god-like status as a result .  Of course, this would inevitably offend the gods and lead to a sharp rebuke or punishment and the hero's eventual downfall (see the ancient Proverb, "Pride goeth before destruction").  It's no mere coincidence that pride (hubris) was one of the so-called Seven deadly sins of antiquity, and there are numerous examples of hubris still today (see, for example, the Dunning-Kruger effect or the Icarus complex which describe personality theories involving hubris).


As it turns out, it's not just individuals who are subject to overconfidence, pride, and over-ambition - organizations are also at risk for hubris.  One of the earliest examples of organizational hubris comes from a biblical story in the Old Testament (the book of Genesis, to be more precise) often called the Tower of Babel.  Apparently, a few generations after the Great Flood (see the story of Noah's Ark), all of humanity was united and spoke a single language.  Things were going fairly well for us back then, as you can imagine.  After migrating en masse, all of the world's humans settled in the land of Shinar and decided to build a city and a tower that would be tall enough to reach heaven.  God, seeing how quickly the tower was going up, made it so that the humans couldn't understand each other and scattered them around the world.  The story, which can be found in a number of different religions and cultures, is used to explain why humans speak different languages, but it is also a great example of organizational hubris.  Humans became so overconfident that they felt they could build a tower to reach the heavens!


There are other well-known examples of organizational hubris.  In fact, the author and management guru Jim Collins wrote a book called How the Mighty Fall...and Why Some Companies Never Give In, which is full of anecdotes about companies that led their industries and basically blew it.  Collins proposed five stages of organizational decline (perhaps borrowed from Elisabeth Kübler-Ross's five stages of grief):


1. Hubris born of success
2. Undisciplined pursuit of more
3. Denial of risk and peril
4. Grasping for salvation
5. Capitulation to irrevelance or death


See that?  The first stage of organizational decline is hubris.  Here, an organization becomes so successful, often reaching the top of their industry, that they fall prey to overconfidence and over-ambition.  It's not just that the rest on their laurels, as if to say, "We've always done it this way, which has worked very well for us in the past, obviously, because how else did we become so successful?"  Instead, the organization becomes arrogant - "We are successful because we are entitled to be successful."  "We are the best - we can do anything!"  "Nobody is going to beat us - we are that good."  Bill Gates once said, "Success is a lousy teacher.  It seduces smart people into thinking they can't lose.  And it's an unreliable guide to the future."


Just consider the story of the legendary department store chain, Sears, Roebuck, and Company.  I can remember shopping at Sears all the time during my childhood - either through the catalog (especially the one that came out every Christmas with all of the toys - known as the "Wish Book") or at the local store that was one of the anchor stores at the shopping mall that was a couple of miles down the street from our house.  Sears started out in 1893 as a mail ordering catalog company founded by Richard Warren Sears and Alvah Curtis Roebuck.  It was not until later, in 1925, that the company began opening retail stores as well.  The name "Sears" became synonymous (at least in my house growing up) with the place to purchase appliances (e.g., Kenmore appliances) and tools (e.g., Craftsman tools).  But Sears was so much more than just appliances and tools.  Just consider some of the name brands that either started out at Sears or were once part of the Sears company - Allstate Insurance, DieHard batteries, Discover Card Services, Dean Witter Reynolds Financial Services, Coldwell Banker, Land's End, just to name a few. 



Sears peaked in the early 1970's, after which competition with other retailers such as Walmart, Best Buy, Home Depot, and later Amazon.  The long, slow decline of Sears continued on until it was purchased by Kmart Holdings (another retail chain experiencing its own difficulties) in 2004.  The Kmart acquisition never really took off though, and the decline continued as Sears closed retail stores, sold off different brands and services, and eventually filed for bankruptcy in October, 2018.  It's a shadow of its former self.  The company is no longer relevant. 


There have been a number of different explanations why Sears ultimately failed.  But I think Sears' long slow decline began with organizational hubris.  Just take a look at the Collin's five stages of organizational decline, with Sears in mind:


1. Hubris born of success: Sears was once the largest retailer in America, and many experts felt that they were invincible.  Sears failed to change with the times ("What got us here is what will get us to the future!").  Even after they lost the title of America's favorite retailer to Walmart in the 1990's, Sears failed to recognize what was happening.


2. Undisciplined pursuit of more: Remember that Sears started out as a mail-order catalog company.  They eventually opened retail stores too, but they were known for being a retail chain.  So, why did they enter the financial services (Discover Card Services, Dean Witter Reynolds) and real estate industries (Coldwell Banker)?  Again, you have the "We're so great, we can do anything!" syndrome.


3. Denial of risk and peril: Again, Sears didn't get to flummoxed by the fact that Walmart was taking away their business.  They failed to recognize that they were being disrupted.  The company's leaders just didn't think that they could fail, after all, "We are Sears!"


4. Grasping for salvation: Sears eventually filed for bankruptcy and were then bought by Kmart.  At the time, Kmart was struggling too.  So why did the leaders at Sears think that this was going to be their way to climb out of their hole?


5. Capitulation to irrelevance or death:  The last stage of grief is acceptance.  Here, Sears (and Kmart, among many others) were disrupted by Amazon, which drove the proverbial final nail in the coffin (see "Sears could've been Amazon"). 


So, how can organizations avoid falling victims to their own success (see "Organisational Hubris: Are You Blinded By Achievements?")?  Here are a few suggestions.  First, recognize the patterns in disruptive trends.  Look at what other companies are doing - not just your competitors, but also the smaller organizations that are trying to become your competitors.  Second, avoid "deservation", the concept that "we deserve to win because we are great."  Embrace the mentality that "what got you here, may not get you there."  Recognize that there is a certain amount of luck involved with any successful initiative or product launch.  Third, recognize that innovation does not come from past achievements.  Be ready to embrace change.  Get out of your comfort zone.


It's okay to be proud of your achievements, as an individual and as an organization.  But don't be arrogant.  Recognize that there is at times, there is a fine line between failure and success.  It's okay to be confident, but don't be overconfident.  Be open to change.  Looking at past success is rarely the best way to make decisions for the future.

The Tire Story

A few months ago, I ordered a few books from Amazon on customer service.  I wanted to learn how other industries approach service excellence to see if there were any best practices that we could adopt in our hospital to improve the patient and family experience.  I wasn't sure where to start looking, so I searched for books about companies that I knew had a reputation for their customer service - customers like Disney, Ritz Carlton, and Nordstrom.  I ended up purchasing a book about each company's approach to customer service, and I found a great book called "The Nordstrom Way to Customer Experience Excellence" by Robert Spector and Breanne O. Reeves.  It's a really great book, and I can't wait to apply some of the principles used by Nordstrom to create an excellent patient experience.

I've recently shopped at Nordstrom, and I can honestly say that the overall experience was really great!  They definitely do what they say they do in "The Nordstrom Way."  But I have to be honest - it wasn't my experience at being a Nordstrom shopper that caused me to look for business books about Nordstrom and the customer experience.  I actually had heard all about Nordstrom in some of my business classes.  There is a story that I've heard several times that is used to illustrate how far Nordstrom's employees will go to making sure that the customer's needs are first and foremost.  The story itself is a bit too unbelievable, but it does make the point well.  I wanted to learn more about "The Nordstrom Way" because of the story itself.  Was it true or not?

Nordstrom is known for having an incredibly lenient return policy (see "Nordstrom's Return Policy is Still the Best: Five Things to Know").  If you don't like what you purchased, just bring it to any Nordstrom store and they will refund your money, no questions asked.  You can return the item at any time, and in many cases you won't even need a receipt.  As the story goes, a customer brought a set of tires to a Nordstrom store and the salesperson gladly took them back and gave the customer a full refund.  Nordstrom doesn't even sell tires!  They never have sold tires.  Business experts and corporate consultants use the story to show that Nordstrom is so committed to the customer experience that they will give refunds for anything, even a product that they don't even sell! 

As one their former Co-Presidents (the company is entirely family run), Jim Nordstrom, once said, "Returns are the best way in the world for us to own the customer forever.  When somebody comes in with a return, that's the time to separate yourself from the competition.  You have to remember that the person who's returning the item is back in our store.  We want them to see that we're on their side."

He went on, "If you take back the item with a smile, and no questions asked and the customer walks out the door happy, what's that worth?  A lot.  It's the best sales closure we have as a company."

The story seems a bit farfetched and apocryphal.  But here's the thing - it's actually true!  It happened in 1975 after Nordstrom acquired three stores in Alaska from the Northern Commercial Company, a chain of full-line department stores that sold just about everything, including - you guessed it - tires!  Of course, after Nordstrom took over the stores, they stopped selling tires.  But here is what happened, in the words of John Nordstrom, yet another of the company's many leaders from the family:

I was visiting Fairbanks soon after the change and was standing in the back of the store with our manager.  The doors opened for the day and we saw a small, older man walking across the street carrying a tire.  He entered the store and looked around, seemingly confused.  Our manager started toward the door and I grabbed him and said, "Let's stay here and see how our team handles this."

Our young salesman greeted the customer and asked to help him.  The little guy said he had purchased the tire here and it didn't fit his car, so he wanted to return it.  I was so happy when our young salesman asked if the customer remembered how much he had paid for it.  The guy thought it was about $25.  Our guy opened the cash register and handed him the $25 and told him he hoped he would return so we could help him with clothing or shoes.

We took the tire and nailed it up in the stockroom as an example of how you give customer service.  We didn't realize the story would become a wonderful cultural pillar of the company.

Now that's customer service!  The story has become legend, but it is a perfect illustration of how far Nordstrom employees are willing to go in order to serve their customers.  What is your organization's version of the tire story?  What are you willing to do for your customers?