Small Business Today Magazine MAR 2016 AMERICAN SERVICES | Page 18

EDITORIAL FEATURE

When the Rules

Don’t Fit the Game                    
By Hank Moore, Corporate Strategist

It’s not that some
organizations “click”
and others do not.
Multiple factors cause
momentum or the
lack thereof.
As companies
operate, all make
honest and
predictable mistakes.
Those with a willingness to learn from
the mistakes and
pursue growth will
be successful. Others
will remain stuck in
a frame of mind that
sets themselves up
for the next round
of defeat or, at best,
partial success.

E

very business, company, or organization
goes through cycles in its evolution. At
any point, each program or business
unit is in a different phase from the others. Every astute organization assesses
the status of each branch on its growth
strategies and orients its management
and team members to meet constant
changes and fluctuations.
It’s not that some organizations “click” and others do not. Multiple factors cause momentum or
the lack thereof. As companies operate, all make
honest and predictable mistakes. Those with a
willingness to learn from the mistakes and pursue growth will be successful. Others will remain
stuck in a frame of mind that sets themselves up
for the next round of defeat or, at best, partial success.
The saddest fact is that businesses do not always know that they’re doing anything wrong.
They do not realize that a Big Picture must exist
or what it could look like. They have not been
taught or challenged on how to craft a Big Picture.
Managers, by default, see band-aid surgery as the
only remedy for problems.
Is it any wonder that organizations stray off
course? Perhaps no course was ever charted.
Perhaps the order of business was to put out fires
as they arose rather than practicing preventive
safety on the kindling organization.

7 Layers of Organizations that Go Bad
1. Self Destructive Intelligence. There exists a
logic override. Since the company does not
believe itself to be smart enough to do the
right things, then it creates a web of rationalism. Since the mind often plays tricks on itself, management capitalizes upon that phenomenon with people who may question or
criticize.
16 SMALL BUSINESS TODAY MAGAZINE [ MARCH 2016 ]

2. Hubris. This quality destroys those who possess it. Such executives exhibit stubborn
pride, believing their own spin doctoring, and
surrounding themselves with people who
spin quite well on their behalf. They adopt a
“nobody does it as well as we can” mentality.
Such companies scorn connections, collaborations, and partnering with other organizations.
3. Arrogance. Omnipotent fantasies cause
management to go too far. The feeling is that
nothing is beyond their capacity to succeed
(defined in their minds as crushing all other
competition).
4. Narcissism. Company executives possess excessive conceit. They are self-centered, show
a cruel indifference to others, and are disconnected from outside forces. Their view is that
the world must gratify them.
5. Unconscious Need to Fail. These companies
try too hard to keep on winning. With victory as the only possible end game, all others
must be defeated along the way. In reality,
these people and their organizations possess
low self-esteem. Inevitably, they get beaten at
their own games.
6. Feeling of Entitlement. Walls and filters have
been established which insulate top management from criticism (which is viewed as
harming the chain of armor rather than as
potentially constructive). Anger stimulates
many of their decisions. The feeling is that
they deserve it all. Power satisfies appetites.
These executives have poor human relations
skills. They believe that excesses are always
justified.
7. Collective Dumbness. Such organizations
have totally reshaped reality to their own