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You May Be Off Course 90% of the Time
…And Still Make It!
In his 1985 book Peak Performers: The New Heroes of American Business, Charles Garfield notes that the first moon launch was perfectly on course only 10% of the time and that the other 90% of the time was spent off course, while making adjustments to get back on course. And, as we all know, they made it there and made it home successfully.
Is your marketing off course? For your sake, I hope it is…at least a little off course. Why? Well, then that gives you something to work on. It gives you evidence of how the real world is reacting to your overtures and it gives you opportunity to course correct and improve.
A few years back, there was an article in the New York Times about the “culture of perfectionism” entitled Unhappy? Self-Critical? Maybe you’re Just a Perfectionist. In recent years, researchers have found that striving for consummate perfection causes stress, unhappiness and depression and also stunts the intellectual growth of people (and I would argue that of organizations as well) because they are so mired in self-critical depression that they can’ look objectively at a situation and make course corrections.
Marketing is not about critical perfection; rather it’s about being on the right critical path. Back to Charles Garfield for a moment -- Garfield suggests that “what matters to great leaders are results and that it is more important to produce the ‘critical path’ than any theoretically ‘perfect path.”
Keeping to this critical path involves the constant questioning like: Are we on track? If not, where are we off – and why?
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PLANNING AHEAD?
Each week, we look at what’s coming up a month from now in Chase’s 2010 Calendar of Events to help you plan your promotions in advance.
May 10-16 is Children’s Book Week – Celebrate this important week, devoted to encouraging the enjoyment of reading for your people, but doing something like a book drive for kids or to encourage your employees to pick up some books for their kids for summer.
May 21 is National Bike to Work Day – Pretty self-explanatory. How about holding a contest in your office for the department that has the highest percentage of team members riding into work…or just make a difference on your own by hopping on your bike!
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