I have often said that companies, especially large ones, are huge collections of lazy people staying on for salaries. Except for a few hard working folks scattered here and there, the rest do as much work as is sufficient and spend the rest of the time in activities which I categorize as waste. The value of most of the sufficient work that they do is also questionable. Even many of the hard working ones actually end up working hard on wasteful activities without realizing it, and often also feeling proud of their effort - which is sad coz the system has really cheated them or made fools of them.
Waste is of many types, and comprises much of what happens in companies.
Waste is of many types, and comprises much of what happens in companies.
Here are a few kinds:
- Process waste
- Reviews
- Documentation
- Accountability / Ownership overhead
- Blessing management
- Confused leadership generated waste
- Directionless tasks
- Top-down outcome push
- Reckless & Careless planning
- Poor communication
- Forced creativity
- Looking busy
- By doing meaningless work
- By lying, pretending, misreporting
- Laziness overhead
- No-Motivation / No-Interest overhead
- ... and so on
The fact that in spite of all this waste generation companies do get great things done is really commendable. It just means to say a mass can still achieve things of great value which a person or smaller groups of people cannot.
As I was sipping tea near my home during one of my tea breaks while I work from home, I was observing people from near-by offices, also taking their tea breaks. I felt amazed at how so many people are playing some roles in their companies and earning some money for themselves and their families - the money which then makes a lot of other things happen - the food and all the necessities, the stuff in their homes, the kids' schools, the medical bills, the vacations, etc. etc. Those were all middle-class white-collar workers. But isn't this true about all the billions of people of this world - they're all somehow making some money and making their families' lives happen! It's not at all a fair or equal system - especially if you for once look beyond the middle-class, both above and below - a lot of people do very little to earn disproportionately high amount of money, and a lot lot more can't make ends meet and many are even forced to die. Capitalism offers a way of distributing resources through trade and employment, it indeed claims to be fair theoretically, but is far from so, because the theory assumes humans far different from the real ones. But it does probably lead to a more efficiently growing system as compared to other alternatives. And yet, we see all this waste because of the human elements of power, politics, laziness, greed, varying levels of trust and varying levels of hope - and where an individual falls in the hierarchy affects which is the dominant human element that drives his/her actions. And then these very elements force companies to structure themselves, in ways that allow those on top to exercise control and have the companies somehow deliver outcomes.
There are 2 types of businesses in my view:
As I was sipping tea near my home during one of my tea breaks while I work from home, I was observing people from near-by offices, also taking their tea breaks. I felt amazed at how so many people are playing some roles in their companies and earning some money for themselves and their families - the money which then makes a lot of other things happen - the food and all the necessities, the stuff in their homes, the kids' schools, the medical bills, the vacations, etc. etc. Those were all middle-class white-collar workers. But isn't this true about all the billions of people of this world - they're all somehow making some money and making their families' lives happen! It's not at all a fair or equal system - especially if you for once look beyond the middle-class, both above and below - a lot of people do very little to earn disproportionately high amount of money, and a lot lot more can't make ends meet and many are even forced to die. Capitalism offers a way of distributing resources through trade and employment, it indeed claims to be fair theoretically, but is far from so, because the theory assumes humans far different from the real ones. But it does probably lead to a more efficiently growing system as compared to other alternatives. And yet, we see all this waste because of the human elements of power, politics, laziness, greed, varying levels of trust and varying levels of hope - and where an individual falls in the hierarchy affects which is the dominant human element that drives his/her actions. And then these very elements force companies to structure themselves, in ways that allow those on top to exercise control and have the companies somehow deliver outcomes.
There are 2 types of businesses in my view:
- Volume focused - these are businesses that want to sell in huge volumes, and are typically not into high-end or high quality products. Their products are therefore not in the premium or expensive category. These businesses employ a lot of people with average to low skills - as one of my bosses used to call us - just hands & legs. As expected, the salaries of these people aren't great.
- Quality focused - these are businesses that make really awesome products or deliver really amazing services - of the kind people are willing to pay a lot for. So obviously these products/services are expensive and can be placed in the premium category. These businesses employ a few but really good and highly skilled people, and pay them very well. Plus, the high quality also requires high level of mechanization, automation and state-of-the-art in terms of production or delivery techniques.
As volume-focused companies grow big, they often tend to forget which type of business they fall under or perhaps get carried away because of pressure to increase sales. For the sake of creating differentiation or for bringing more value to customers, they often try to shift their narrative to say things about themselves which actually belong to the other bucket. Although customers for these businesses do appreciate someone bringing greater value or better quality, they actually, really, want it cheap. So, the whole talk on high "quality" gets limited to the narrative and is soon forgotten. It's also not safe for the company to take it too far and imbibe much into its offerings - because (a) the customers don't want it, and (b) the company can't deliver it - especially at the price the customer can afford, and with the kind of people the company can afford.
Similarly, the quality focused companies should not deviate from their core business type, otherwise they'll lose customers for sure.
The issue, however, is that companies need to constantly compete and evolve such that they are able to beat competition consistently, and are able to stay alive for long. Being creative by staying within the boundaries of the business type is the key, but it's important to keep in mind that the boundaries are not rigid. Yesterday's science fiction is today's reality. And yesterday's rocket science is today's everyday gadget. That's where companies need to be smart, so that they are able to identify the right envelopes to push and the right boundaries to adjust, determine their focus and set the right priorities.
To tie the 3 aspects I've talked about here - I think a truly successful business leader needs to get the following right:
- Eliminate all kinds waste
- Build an efficient, motivating and fair organizational structure and work environment
- Ensure the business focus is rock solid, and the leaders are capable of imagining the future without deviating from what the business fundamentally stands for.
