Ten Things I Believe About Business (After Bob Sutton)

When I was in business school (which was quite a while back now: last June I attended my 25th reunion at Sloan/MIT), I tended to avoid courses in organizational behavior. In retrospect, I don't really know why, since how human beings operate was always more interesting to me than - say - the Capital Asset Pricing Model. If I went back now, I would probably take only OB courses. And I'd want to take one with Bob Sutton, who teaches at Stanford and always has interesting observations about the workplace on his blog.

Recently, Bob blogged about ten things he believes about business, which I will not quote in full. (Bob's Ten Things are all good, and I urge you to go over and give him a good, long read). Here are the "Bob things" I especially liked:

Sometimes the best management is no management at all -- first do no harm!

Learning how to say smart things and give smart answers is important. Learning to listen to others and to ask smart questions is more important.

The best test of a person's character is how he or she treats those with less power.

I'll also give you his final thing, and my amended version:

Bob: Work is an over-rated activity.

Maureen: Working for money is an over-rated activity. Working (i.e., spending purposeful, concentrated time doing something that you care deeply about) is an essential ingredient for happiness in life.

But Bob did get me going on what my Ten Things would be. Like Bob, I won't elaborate on these points, but will likely post on them over the next month or so.

1. In any organization, the ideal situation is having both positional and personal authority, but if you have to pick one, you're better off with personal authority every time.
2. The key to being a good manager is having good people work for you.
3. Personnel problems don't typically resolves themselves.
4. Management does not want to be blindsided by bad news.
5. Companies that don't pick a focus and stick to it long enough to give it a chance to work won't succeed. (Equally true corollary: Companies that stay focused for too long on something that's not working won't succeed.)
6. Nobody gets bored talking about their own ideas, concerns, and issues. (Equally true corollary: Nobody wants to listen to your ideas, concerns, and issues non-stop.)
7. Most people like it when you ask them for advice.
8. If your company is having problems, you're better off trying to do something about them than you are sitting around bitching about management and/or worrying about lay-offs. (The outcome might be the same, but you'll feel better.)
9. If you're in an organization where it's genuinely risky to offer constructive criticism and new ideas, run don't walk to the nearest exit. (Equally true corollary: If you can't get behind your company's strategy for no reason other than that it wasn't yours, do everyone a favor and leave.)
10. If, mid-way through Sunday afternoon, you find yourself regularly sinking into a back-to-work dread funk, it's time to get a new job.

Once again, thanks to Bob for a great idea.