James Convey requested that this article by Steve Denning be linked into my blog. I've copied and pasted the article here because it's worth while to think about. The link to the article in Forbes is listed above.
Steve Denning:
In the outpouring of comments on the two articles on the Ten Most Hated Jobs and The Ten Happiest Jobs was a continuing theme about the goal of a corporation. For many people, it seems as though the idea that the goal of corporation is to make money is one of the immutable truths of the universe. For instance, one reader wrote:
The top 10 hated jobs are about making money. The ultimate goal of any corporation is to make money. Money is generally made at the expense of some other corporation or in business speak: “taking someone else’s share” or “creating a need or want” in the market.
For the most part companies of today falsify what is “needed” or “wanted” in the market…(otherwise known as people). There is nothing ‘human’ about satisfying a ‘need’ that forces you to spend tons of dollars on wrinkle cream that really doesn’t work anyway. I believe that that is not helping anyone…in fact…it is lying to people to take away their money. There is no real connection when you start lying and make ‘money’ your God to pursue. But here is the problem: in a disillusioned world if you want to have a comfortable living…you also have to be disillusioned…
It is well known that direct contact with other human beings where you can see your contribution create the change…is the most self-actualizing!
In a corporation, you will always be dispensable…because it is about money….not helping people. [sohik]
The truth is that the ultimate goal of a corporation isn’t necessarily to make money. True, this is the goal of traditional management, and of many organizations in the Fortune 500. But it’s a choice made by those organizations, not a necessary fact.A growing number of companies have chosen a different goal. They see their bottom line as something radically different. Delighting their customers through continuous innovation has become their bottom line. Making money is the result, not the goal, of their activities. The interesting thing is that when they operate this way, they make a lot more money than companies that focus directly on making money.
You can see this when you compare the ten-year share price of companies that are practicing radical management such as Apple [AAPL], Amazon [AMZN] and Salesforce [CRM] or Intuit [INTU], with companies still practicing traditional management, such Wal-Mart [WMT], Cisco [CSCO] OR GE [GE],
Another interesting thing about this different way of managing is that when everyone in the organization is focused on delighting the customer, this creates a great deal more job satisfaction for competent employees than work that is centered on making money for the shareholders. That’s because the jobs become fundamentally about helping other people. This is not selling anti-wrinkle cream that doesn’t work anyway, but really making people’s lives better.
Organizations operating in this way find that engaged employees are indispensable to achieving their goals. As a result, the practice of traditional management of treating employees as dispensable becomes counter-productive.
My correspondent is right in thinking that we make our own reality. But so too, do organizations. Some organizations are creating a reality that is better for the employees, the customers and the organization.
It is up to all of us whether we want to participate in co-creating this different world.
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Steve Denning’s most recent book is: The Leader’s Guide to Radical Management (Jossey-Bass, 2010).
