A Simple Way to Improve the World

As anyone who has ever spent more than six minutes having an actual conversation with me knows, I am honestly and passionately (at least when measured by speaking volume and rate of hand gesture) dedicated to making the world a better place. I feel to

o often, much too often, we simply let stupidity gum up our lives and systems. Whether this is a fervent dislike of stupid traditions that serve no purpose other than to impede progress, or ACTUAL stupidity that makes our world a much worse place, I think we should bond together and make logical choices to rid the world of these evils.

An example that has been bothering me are stupid, scammy internet ads (full disclosure, I don’t think scammy is a world, but I think you know what it would mean, if it were a word). This is on my mind because this is the time of year where I check weather.com about 17 times a day, and they are the MECCA of scammy internet ads. I’m pasting some of the examples I found just visiting their site today.

Honestly, it is 2013. We live in a world where I can browse a soccer website for a new pair of soccer cleats and EVERY advertisement on basically EVERY website will be soccer shoe related for the next six months. Why, in all serious, do we allow these stupid, misleading, and otherwise terrible ads to even be legal? No, Obama hasn’t lowered refinance requirements (banks do that, for the most part). No, there isn’t some huge break through in dieting where you can eat fritos all day, and lose pounds by the dozen. No, that website isn’t asking you to test the newest Apple gadget. No, there isn’t a class action lawsuit that has you clicks away from anything resembling a cash settlement (I got that ad from MSNBC, to be fair to weather.com).

And I know the rebuttal, that people should be smart enough to not be tricked. That if you are dumb enough to fall for this, you deserve it. People SHOULD be smart enough to not be scammed, but shouldn’t we also strive to live in a world where people cannot make a living scamming people? Isn’t that what we should strive for? I mean, yes, we should educate people and move towards a population not dumb enough to fall for these things; however, at the same time can we make a simple move forward to rid the world of this crap? YES!

My theory on Tiger Woods, cheaters, bad bosses, and destructive behaviors

So this rant is a little scatter-brained. Hopefully it will make some more sense as I write it down.

I want to know why so many people that are at the top of their field seem to fit similar personality types. I want to know if that is a good thing. I want to know if you need a certain personality to reach the top. I want to know if that should be encouraged.

This started with me listening to a theory on, shockingly, Tiger Woods. And it got me thinking that Tiger really isn’t that different from many people who have reached similar heights, and fallen to similar fates. Seems that most writers, politicians, actors, actresses, artists, musicians, business people… the list goes on… are strikingly similar.

Here is my theory. I think that in our current world, you need to be narcissistic to get to the top. You need to have a certain amount of selfishness. You need to believe that you are better than everyone else. You need to be extremely competitive. Perhaps most of all, you need to be willing to do what it takes to get to the top. I do not know why we would assume that all of these traits wouldn’t ultimately make up our personality. If you are super competitive on the court, field, or in the office, why wouldn’t you be super competitive at home with your wife? Or with friends?

Look at two of the greatest athletes of all-time, Michael Jordan and Tiger Woods. Both are extremely competitive, and both have had similar ‘life experiences’ (read: cheat on wives). I think that you have to think and believe that you are so good that you won’t lose. That you won’t get caught because that is losing. That you are better than the system. Not that you don’t have to play by the rules, but simply put, that you are good enough to not get caught by the people that enforce the rules. This is why I wouldn’t be shocked ONE TINY LITTLE BIT if it turned out Lance Armstrong was on PEDs. Why would we ever assume otherwise? Especially now that there is a serious potential that Tiger Woods used PEDs? Think of the rationale. Tiger hurt his knee and needed to recover. Nothing in life is more important to him than being the best golfer in the world. He has worked his entire life for that, why wouldn’t he cheat? Same with Lance. Which is more likely? That an above-average cyclist would get cancer, only to recover and suddenly become the greatest cyclist of all-time? Or that an above-average cyclist would get cancer, use steroids to recover from the cancer (perfectly acceptable behavior) and then realize the potential that PEDs might have in helping him transform himself into the greatest cyclist of all-time? Call me cynical, but I am not sure I have the heart to believe in Lance’s story anymore. I want to. I wanted to believe in Tiger.

This isn’t some rant to justify why I am not at the top of my field, or top of the world. This isn’t an effort to bash those that are on the top because I am jealous of their success. I just want to know if you have to be that way? When I thought about this today, and looked around, I couldn’t think of that many people that are successful and not willing to step all over other people to get there. And even the people that I perceive to be at the top, I don’t know them well enough to even know if they are like that. One thing I do know, is that I know plenty of ‘successful’ people that do whatever it takes to win and get to the top.

Sadly, so many people struggle to survive once they are there. Then, as my co-worker Amy pointed out, once you fall you don’t have people to catch you since you stepped all over so many people to get to the top. When you think about that, you will think of people that you know that fell, and that no one cared about once they fell from the top (or even slightly up the ladder of life).

With Tiger, we all jump out at the media. That since he was so secretive and closed off from the media for so long that they are simply getting him back. I don’t disagree, I just believe there is more to it. I think that the skill-set required to be ultra successful in fields, especially sports, creates this sort of flawed and dangerous personality. I believe that is why so many bosses are jerks. I think that is why so many politicians and athletes cheat (both professionally and personally). It might help explain some of the destructive tendencies of many artists and writers.

Feel free to poke holes through my theory now.

When being flat is good

The nerd in me loves to read/listen to how other companies operate. I am always fascinated by companies that think outside of the box, companies that don’t adhere to typical, rigid policies and ways of doing business. Then yesterday, while listening to the audio book for Tipping Point, I learned of the company W.L. Gore & Associates. You maybe know them from being the producers of Gore-Tex, but they make a ton of products. Despite being a large company (about 8,000 employees), they operate like a very small company and I thought I would share that with you (not really sure why, it just excited me).

Gore is corporate-socialism. Their company’s structure is flat, as opposed to most companies that have a strict, vertical hierarchy. Everyone has the same title of ‘associate.’ If you receive a business card from an employee, regardless of their level within the organization, all it says is their name, number, and ‘associate.’ Everyone has the same size cube/office. Their offices are also very unique because the lack of title provides a great deal of flexibility within an office. Employees collaborate at levels unseen at most companies of similar sizes. There isn’t the layers of management that prevents progress in most large companies. This allows Gore to adapt quickly, while their competition needs to ‘move things up the ladder.’

Perhaps the biggest reason that their culture works is that Gore limits their factory/office size to 150 employees. An office/factory typically houses an entire branch of the company. Tipping Point talked about how one of the industrial wings of the company was getting larger, so they moved into their own, self-contained building. This means that the products are designed and produced within the same building, so the people designing the product park, work, and eat lunch with the people building the product. Amazing opportunities for collaboration.Plus, employees in this flat-system hold each other accountable. There isn’t a need for middle management to micromanage employees because their employees work together and hold each other accountable. They are truly a team.

Why 150 employees? 150 is the number that Robin Dunbar determined is the maximum number of people that one can maintain a social relationship with. Once a group grows about 150, we start to have limited relationships, so Gore keeps the levels at 150 or below.

Gore’s system works. They are an industry leader, and their corporate culture is one of their main competitive advantages. People want to work there. Their employee turnover is 1/3 of their competitors, so why don’t more companies operate this way?

I don’t think enough companies could be genuine in operating this way. Too many egos. Too many employees are motivated by fancy titles and huge offices. They don’t always see the point of being successful if the success cannot be directly tied to them. Sharing the spotlight isn’t a huge priority in our narcissistic culture. Another benefit is that the company is privately held so they do not have irrational pressures from stockholders. Instead, they can operate, grow, and remain profitable their way.

I know most of the folks that read my BLOG could likely care less, but this is something that interests me very much. I love reading how companies like Gore and Google operate by their own rules. How they think and succeed outside of the box. As the economy becomes more global, and more competitive, companies need to find a competitive advantage. Gore and Google are annually ranked as a few of the top places to work. While these rankings are far from scientific (in my opinion), there is little doubt that companies like Google and Gore get their pick of who works there. They aren’t hurting for talent. They get the talent they want, and put that talent into corporate cultures that let them operate in ways to maximize their ability. That is competitive advantage and that is why companies like Google and Gore are succeeding regardless of the economic climate.