How To Spot The Manager You NEED To Work For

I posted recently on the bombshell (at least in the incentive industry) that Amazon.com was pulling out of the incentive merchandise fulfillment space.  This was huge news in our little corner of the world (for the history and impact see my post here.)

Amazon.com was going to change the industry.  Their purchasing power, the sheer volume of their merchandise choices, their fulfillment capabilities, their pricing - all pointed to more choice for participants at a greater value.  What client could argue with that value proposition? 

Not many.  Amazon.com capture a fairly big share of the market quickly.  I had heard they exeeded $500 million in sales within 2 years (don't have any hard data on that - purely anecdotal.)

Fast forward two years and - poof.  Amazon.com is gone.

Incentive companies and the Executives at those companies had two reactions to this...

1. Wow... that was weird.  Now, what did we learn from this?
    
2. Wow... that was weird.  I knew it wouldn't work.  Told you so.  Whew... we don't need to change.

Choose #1

If you work at an incentive company ask yourself which of these reactions came from your boss?  If it was #2 - get your resume ready 'cuz they aren't going to be leading your company into any new and interesting directions.  They are going to be scraping the profit off an old business model for as long as it takes until they can retire and leave you holding the bag.

#1 recognizes that the Amazon.com experiment generated a lot of buzz, a lot of business, a lot of clients.  In other words, they hit on something the market wanted.  

The market still wants it.  

And when a market wants something the market gets it.  

The market will not be denied.

Some Smart Guys...

I don't usually pimp for any incentive company on this blog but a couple of people caught my attention - and inadvertently created the idea of this post.

First was a comment from Hinda Incentives in their blog (written I believe by @drewhawkins )...

"Whenever a juggernaut like Amazon withdraws from a particular industry, it’s big news, especially after a relatively short time. While they lasted less than three years in the industry, they were a game changer. They made us better even with our 40 years experience in this industry."

Second was Kurt Nelson  ( @whatmotivates ) from the Lantern Group on his blog...

"While Amazon might be leaving, they showed that there was a desire in the marketplace for something like this.  I don’t think there is another company right now that could fill that role, but that doesn’t mean in the future there couldn’t be.  So, with that in mind, it is important to think about the next game.  What will this mean for the traditional incentive houses, for the mid or small sized performance improvement firms?  Will someone take that bold step to change the game and bring in a different set of plays and players or will they exhale a deep breathe, thankful the other team forfeited, and go back to their old ways of playing? "

These are guys that understand the need to question things and learn and grow.  Props guys...

You NEED To Work for A Great Manager

A great manager will look at these experiences as learning experiences.  A great manager will ask...  "what happened?"  A great manager learns from the experience and moves forward.

A poor manager let's out a sigh of relief when the challenge goes away and buries herself back in historical success.  The #2's of the world will continue to do what they've done and learn nothing from the experience.  The #2's will be surprised again.  The #2's will always have "hope" as a strategy.

Listen to how your manager addresses challenges.  Do they ask how, why, when, who?  Do they look for causes and reasons?  

Or does your manager find reasons why it won't work?  Does your manager assume they are right and the challenger is wrong?

Work for a manager that continues to explore and seek to understand.  

Great managers assume others are intelligent and competent - even their competition.

If your manager thinks they are the smartest guy/gal in the room.  They're not.

  

Comments

[fran melmed]

yesterday i tagged along on a field trip to philadelphia's magic gardens, a folk art mosaic public space. it's hard to describe, but it's phenomenal. at any rate, the kids got to ask isaiah, the artist, questions. one asked which mosaic was his favorite. his response was that "i can't afford to have a favorite. if i do, i'm done." i love that. this is a man who's been creating mosaics for over 20 years, 14 alone spent building this magic garden. to me, he summed up the passion for continued exploration and discovery.

cheers, paul.

f

[Paul Hebert]

Great story - you're right and he's right. You can't get too invested in any one opinion, process, model - things change and you need to change with them. Thanks for stopping by f.

[Kurt Nelson]

Paul,

Nice article...and thanks for the shout out (much appreciated).

It is interesting how different companies have responded...I personally saw one that was your typical #2 response "Wow... that was weird. I knew it wouldn't work. Told you so. Whew... we don't need to change." (BTW - I think you need might have the numbers confused in the article...). While I think the intent was to reassure the employees, it also doesn't reflect the message that the market was sending (i.e., change! change! change!).

Traditional incentive companies that "get it" will take a sigh of relief, but then furiously pursue what they've learned and change to better meet the needs of the market place.

Cheers!

[Paul Hebert]

Thanks for pointing out my mistake. Tax day and I was in a hurry to get to the accountant. I have fixed it now (I hope.)

Let's hope someone learned something. Thanks for commenting.