Cindy
Droog
Read Cindy's bio and previous columns
December 3, 2007
It’s Broken, Mr. CEO;
My Toddler Can Explain It To You
My son has a new
obsession, and I’m not quite sure what to make of it. It’s with things
that are broken. In fact, he is starting to break things on purpose,
just so he can bring them to me, and say, “It broke.”
It started with
blocks, which, since they break apart on their own, was not such a big
deal. I’d snap his miniature Lego tower back together in an instant, and
he seemed pleased with my skills in fixing something on such short
notice, and with such small effort.
Last week, when his
fancy progressed into helium balloons, I wasn’t sure what to do. He
brought me one that had gone flat – and should have been removed from
his toy box weeks ago – and said, “It broke,” with that look of
anticipation that I read as, “Certainly, my mommy can fix anything.”
But I couldn’t. The
next day brought with it another impossible case. A children’s book with
a chewed off cover.
And again, Mommy was
helpless. But rather than fight to prove otherwise, I simply held his
hand and guided him outside to play. The perfect distraction. Still,
then and there is when I realized that my son was catching on to me. I’m
left only with hope that his little test of me ends here, and that he
doesn’t try to break, say, one of his own bones by jumping off the
couch, just to see what my true capabilities are.
Despite my failure at
repairing all things, I had to acknowledge – and celebrate – my young
son’s intelligence. It only took him two weeks – 14 days – to understand
that I haven’t the talent, or the resources, to fix all things. That’s
months, if not years, shorter than what it takes some people in
corporate America to come to the same realization.
“We don’t have brand
recognition? Well, that will be fixed with next month’s television ad
airing during ‘What Not to Wear’. Our target audience loves that show!”
“What? We didn’t win
the local Entrepreneur of the Year Award? Let’s launch a partnership
with that organization that builds houses for homeless people. That will
make us a shoe-in for 2008!”
Fast forward two years
later, and it’s very likely that the company has neither brand
recognition, nor some statue of a naked guy with eagle’s wings encased
in glass in the lobby.
Corporate executives
always seem to want things fixed. The problem is that they don’t know
the difference between a tower of blocks and a deflated balloon. In the
case of the tower, you reinforce the base, snap a few existing parts
into the right place, and you’re good to go.
But in the case of the
balloon, your best option is to go out, spend the $3.50, and buy the new
balloon. Sure, you can try it the hard way. You can un-tie the end,
attempt to avoid letting out the minimal amount of air that’s there, and
use your own breath – or even a bicycle pump – to blow in more. In the
end, your balloon might gain a few inches of height, just enough to
please a toddler for one more day.
Such is change in
business. Some like to do it the hard way, like the balloon. They suck
the talent from a few, asking them to carry the lion’s share of the
work. But they can only help it drift along enough to appease the
stockholders – who often have the attention span of toddlers – for one
more quarter.
The execs would be
better off to go find a new leader, a helium tank if you will, to really
affect change.
The hardest part is
recognizing when you – yes you – are the actual barrier. When it came to
fixing my son’s book, I could have glued, sewed, bought grommets, or
tried a myriad of ways to be his hero. And maybe I should have. Instead,
I admitted my own weakness, and together, he and I moved on.
There is no shame in
honesty. If you can’t fix your business, it’s not likely that I can
either. But it’s OK to say so and move on. I’ll hold your hand.
© 2007 North Star Writers
Group. May not be republished without permission.
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