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 Return to Free Articles & Tools Index Profit is the Egg, Not the Chicken July 2009 I watched a video of the CEO of Zappo’s the other day and he had a great line, “Chase the vision, not the money. The money will follow”. I think that he is spot-on. Said differently, profit is the egg, not the chicken. (Check out the video on the bottom of their homepage and tell me that you don’t want to buy shoes from these guys! www.zappos.com) While profit is essential and financial management is a critical skill for any organization, it will not drive the organization forward. I experienced this lesson some time ago in my career. We had built a very successful multi-billion dollar company based upon innovation, customer focus and a strong, collaborative culture. After a sale of the company, new ownership brought in some necessary-but-not-sufficient skills around financial management and accountability. Company conclaves that previously bought hundreds of line managers together to share great ideas were replaced with multi-day “quarterly business reviews” that were designed to bust the chops of anyone below midline. (Business reviews are critical, but watch the tone!) Sharing new ideas from the trenches was supplanted by training sessions on new policies devised on mahogany-row by folks who wouldn’t know a customer if they ran over one on the way to a long lunch. Looking good on stage became more important than sharing a great idea over a beer or two after work with the front-line people. Focusing on heroes was replaced by hunting for scapegoats. It was all about the egg and we had forgotten about nurturing the chicken! Growth plummeted. I know a company founder who ran into cash problems early in his company’s history. He had someone on his accounting staff who decided that he would pray over the bills to see if he could make them go away. Sort of like an exorcism. Nothing happened. I’m not opposed to praying for intervention, but perhaps they should have focused on revenue activities (the chicken) vs. the pile of bills (the egg). Most businesses hit tough times when belts must be tightened; however, you can’t cut your way to greatness. Don’t confuse financial results with strategy. Financial results are a function of how well your strategy was designed and executed. Strategy=chicken; results=egg. By the way, the answer to the age old question is that the chicken came first! |
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