I Object to the Objective

12/09/10

It’s all too prevalent.  What is amazing about it is that it comes at us from everywhere.  CEOs; Wallstreet bankers; politicians; sports stars and teams; the list goes on and on – and we even do it ourselves.  And I really don’t think that it has always been this way –

You’ve seen examples of it:

• CEOs who have the objective of raising the share price of their company
• Wallstreet bankers who have an objective of getting a big bonus
• Republicans who want to make sure Obama is a one-term president
• Sports stars who want to negotiate a landmark contract

These are all outcomes – they aren’t objectives.  And I think, because of this, we lose our way.  Think about it just for a minute.  Let’s take the CEO example.  A CEO’s objectives should be to create a healthy company: where market share, revenue, and profitability are on the rise; where, as a company, they are good community citizens; where they pay attention to health and safety, and create an environment where people want to work.  If a CEO has those as objectives, and achieves them – guess what?  Yep – the share price will rise (at least relative to market terms).  So what’s the problem with outcomes as objectives?  It leads us astray.  We short circuit the true objectives to try to deliver the outcome.  And you can actually see that in all of the examples above.  Nothing brings this point home more than some politicians who refuse to govern and do their jobs – just because they have an objective of making the current President “one and done”.

Unfortunately as well – most of us do it ourselves.  We want to keep our jobs; we want a promotion; we want more money.  There is a great line in a movie I like.  The actor playing the President of the United States says “I was so busy trying to keep my job, I forgot to do my job”.  So let’s all remember this:  Wanting an outcome to happen isn’t bad (in fact it is actually a good motivator) – but understand what objectives need to be achieved in order to make the outcome happen – and be true to those objectives.

 

(see “A Million and One Ways to be One-in-a-Million”; Chapter 2 – The Gift and Chapter 5 – A Stitch in Time)