The Most Important Pattern
I snuck into business. I wasn’t supposed to be here. I didn’t go to business school. I was a first-grade teacher. Well, at least that was true once. The truth changes. I did spend a year studying organizational behavior and other MBA stuff. But that’s not what this story is about, so let’s go back to where I was.
After teaching, I was an executive recruiter — that’s right a headhunter — for high-level sales positions. Then I was a territory sales rep that handled two states, selling shirts wholesale for the Phillips Van Heusen Corporation. I even worked in an Interior Design Firm. None of these jobs quite fit me. They were fun, but not where I wanted to be.
Eventually I decided to use my degree again. I started freelance writing about education for magazines, textbooks, and finally for developers who worked for educational publishers. Then I got a job directing a group that included editorial, design, production, typesetting, and printing. That led to my first real publishing job — I was the youngest Executive Editor my new employer had ever hired.
At the beginning of my business career, I felt that without a business school education I had lost out on knowing how business worked. I wanted to know what the unwritten rules were.
I even said out loud, “Just tell me the rules. I’m an overachiever. I like to do the impossible.” But no one came through with the answers. I’d missed the secret handshake and I’d missed everything.
I kept doing the only thing I knew how. I paid attention and processed all of the information I could. I read hundreds of books on management — I learned Drucker inside out. I read all of Tom Peters. The list was extensive and encompassing. That’s when I got interested in organizational behavior, and looked for patterns in everything.
I discovered the most important pattern of all.
You can do anything you want in business, IF you can show how itââ¬â¢s in the companyââ¬â¢s best interest.
Why didn’t I see that sooner? That’s true of everything. What have you done lately to frame what your goals in terms of those around you?
ââ¬âME ââ¬ÅLizââ¬Â Strauss
You might have heard of my new service for small businesses, entrepreneurs, and folks who are forging a path of their own. I’m calling it PVM, the Perfect Virtual Manager. We all need Managers. It’s perfect because you get to decide your manager’s job description. What could more perfect than that?
Liz,
I love this rule, but I’d probably put a twist on it:
“You can do anything you want in business, IF you can show how it’s in the personal best interest of the decisionmakers you need things from to get it done.”
I’ve been part of great initiatives that got scuttled due to personal factors outweighing the company good, and I’ve gotten some breaks because of those same factors.
Mike
Hi Mike!
Gosh sounds like you’ve been working in the corporate world. I’ve seen people try to push their iniatives and their agendas . . . not the way that good business work. Nuh-uh.
Personal factors in the end don’t serve the customer and then company doesn’t win. Gotta serve the customer. It’s always about the customers. Don’t you agree? 🙂
Liz,
I agree completely about focusing on customers first! I recently commented on David Maister’s site the the SINGLE most important thing a junior member of a services group can do is get to know their customers better. Substituting the word “customer” for “company” in your original axiom is a very powerful business tool!
The old saw “everybody sells for a living” is a realization that we all have customers; some of us just have customers (bosses) who can wipe out our entire revenue stream in one stroke.
I’ve got to get out of the salaryman business! 😉
Mike
Hi Mike,
The more I hear about what you do, the more interested I become . . .
You’re right putting “customer” in that rule is an excellent change. I should do that when I revise the ebook. 🙂
Liz,
I am honored that I can help YOU!
It’s another example of the power of Productive Irreverence!
And I do think that a maniacal focus on serving customers is always the best policy, even if others might not see it that way in the short run.
Mike
Mike,
I’m with you on that customer focus. One of my often asked questions is “Are we choosing for us or are we choosing for customers?” Both is fine. If you pick one, it better not be “us.”
Amen to that, sister!
Yeah, baby! 🙂
Liz, I like what you said…
I even said out loud, ââ¬ÅJust tell me the rules.”
That is so true. I’ve had to join so many clubs and organizations, go through hazing, get the secret handshake… only to find out that the rules are almost always the same.
I’m a computer networking guy and I’ve joined the Cisco club, the Novell club, and lately the Microsoft club. They each have their own sets of club secrets and secret handshakes. Nobody will tell you the secrets… You have to spend the big money and go to their schools and pay the admission price to get in.
After years of study, I’ve finally learned the BIG secret… Money! They all make money by selling you knowledge of their imperfect products. You have to pay to get the answers to fix their problems….
Show me the money…
If you can show a business how to make money you can probably do just about anything you want…
Great post!
John
John,
You’re absolutely right — Money is the key! If you can make that bottom line look really pretty, you’re golden and beautiful. Everything you say is worth doing!!
Hi, Liz! It’s great to find out that I’m not alone in terms of trying different fields during my lifetime. Like you, I discovered that there’s one thing I’d love to do and all I need was to get to a place wherein I can do what I want to do as a career. I agree with the pattern you shared and I share the same sentiment. Had I known early on, I wouldn’t have changed jobs so much. LOL. Now, my outlook is adapting my personal strengths and inclinations to my work, hence, re-aligning my work goals with the company I’m working for. It’s great to find that they’d give you ample opportunity to actually settle in. =)
Sasha
Hey Sasha!
I hear what you’re saying. I think these days everyone changes careers at least once.
The key to finding our way through life both inside and outside of working seems sit inside of us. Once we know who we are, what we do well, and what we get jazzed about, the rest gets whole lot easier. Finding a direction seems like walking home. 🙂