Chaos
By Adam
Radzik
Marketing & Sales Coach
In this newsletter I regularly excerpt my four-CD set, "Quick Advice on Improving Relationships." An important principle that I focus on is that as soon as you have a dyad (two persons) you have a society, and every society needs to have rules in order to be civilized.
 If there are no rules, chaos will prevail. Furthermore, the rules must have consequences if they are to be adhered to; without consequences chaos and turmoil will characterize any society.
Let's examine our own country through that prism. Are there rules or laws in the United States to ward off questionable and even fraudulent business practices? Absolutely! Are there institutions specifically devoted to the regulation and policing of Wall Street and financial institutions? Absolutely!
Indeed, there are hundreds of hard-driving professionals who are singularly devoted to supervising those who manipulate the public's money, including the unrelenting regulators of the Securities and Exchange Commission, the uncompromising bank examiners employed by every state, the tough prosecutors at the Attorney General's office, and even the theory-addicted economists at the regional Federal Reserve institutions.
And did these public trustees prevent the United States from falling into one of the most damaging economic holes in history? And did these hand-picked custodians succeed in preventing the Ponzi king of all time, Bernie Madoff, from fleecing his investors of 67 billion dollars? Absolutely not!
And were the spurious activities of rating agencies stopped in their tracks when they accorded high ratings to poor investments, thus causing a world of innocents to lose a lifetime of savings and retirement incomes ? Absolutely not!
What we ended up with in the United States as a result of the criminal failure of these guardians to do their jobs was chaos -- complete and utter pandemonium and the loss of trillions of dollars to us, the American taxpayers.
Have you possibly heard in the media that these sacred sentinels are being taken to task for abandoning their posts? No, of course not. What that means is that these same crimes may very well happen again -- as no one is paying the price other than you and me and our children.
What is the import of this lesson for the business professional? Do you have implicit and explicit rules at your company? Are these rules being observed? Are there consequences if the rules are not observed?
Do your employees often ignore your rules and the consequences of breaking them? If this happens a lot, you will have chaos, you will have bedlam.
Way too often a client says to me, "I have told them (the employees) to do something a thousand times and they don't do it. It drives me nuts. I keep talking and they keep ignoring me!" Sounds like chaos to me. What do you think?
If company dictates are constantly being flouted by any person, that person must be reminded of the rules and specific consequences must be applied the very next time it happens.
Companies that don’t have rules that are observed, that do not apply meaningful consequences will go out of business. Regain control of your society or you will lose that society.
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Excerpt from CD Set: Quick Advice on Improving Our Relationships
Holding the reins too tightly will cause the horse to rebel. Holding the reins too loosely will allow the horse to wander.
We human beings are an interesting bunch. On the one hand, we want to be free and independent and don’t want to feel choked and restricted at every step and turn. When we do feel that way, we seek to escape the relationship. On the other hand, we need rules to regulate our behavior and prevent excesses.
Consider these examples: The president of a company wants to review every letter before it goes out -- too much. A mother believes her children can do no wrong and leaves them unsupervised for hours -- too little. A husband expects his wife to give him a daily account of her productivity and whereabouts -- too much. A college girl has lent her best watch to a friend, which has not been returned in months. She is reluctant to ask for its return -- too little. One mother calls her daughter at work six or seven times a day and acts hurt if her daughter does not speak to her at length -- too much. A partner in a business, who is an admitted workaholic, never leaves the plant before 9:00 p.m. He expects his colleagues to do the same -- too much.
In our own relationships, we need to ask ourselves, are we asking for too much and thereby pushing our partner away, or are we asking for too little and thereby planting the seeds for future resentment and hostility?
Comedy Corner
Meeting the Father-in-Law:
A girl brings home her fiancé, Benjamin, to meet her parents. After dinner, the father invites the fiancé to his study for a drink.
"So, do you have a few dollars put away to help the two of you as you begin your life together?” the father inquires.
"Not even one penny, but God will provide!"
"God?" the father questions with raised eyebrows. "What kind of work do you plan to do, Benjamin?"
"I am a theology student," he replies proudly.
"A theology student," the father repeats. "Admirable. But how will you provide a nice house for my daughter to live in?"
"I will study the scriptures," the young man replies. "Somehow God will provide for us."
"And how will you buy her the beautiful engagement ring that she will surely expect?" asks the father. "I will concentrate on understanding the messages of the prophets," Benjamin responds. "And God will provide for us."
"And children?" asks the father. "How do you intend to support the children that will surely arrive?" "Don't worry, sir. I am confident that God will provide," replies the fiancé, smiling.
The conversation proceeds like this and after he leaves the mother asks, "So, what did you think of Benjamin?"
The father answers, "He has no money, no job, and no plans. But the good news is, he thinks I'm God." |
