"Bozo" ? A clown with a forlorn look, always finding negative implications in every activity or event. A person who tries to find a way to prevent you from moving ahead, giving excuses such as "we've always done it this way, or this is not our culture" when presented a new opportunity or challenge. Normally associated with people who are uncomfortable with learning new techniques, processes, or relationships.
Guy Kawasaki from Garage.Com ? a venture capital company, used to have a segment in his presentations called "Don't Let the Bozos Grind You Down." This segment discussed how every organization will have a corps of people who simply try everything in their power to stop innovation, new product and service development, and introduction of anything new into the daily job function. These people are "bozos." If you want to avoid the pain of dealing with bozos in your business planning, you need to develop techniques in identifying and preventing bozos from interfering with potential future activities of your organization or company.
Due diligence on any innovation or change in direction of an organization is a clear requirement ? nobody wants to manage a company like a small dog playing with toys ? chasing everything that looks fun without following through on any action. A manager must rely on staff to provide a good system of checks and balances to manage risk associated with any change.
However, none of us are immune to the effects of a global economy accelerated by use of global telecommunications networks and business process innovations. With very few exceptions, our organizations must move ahead ? offering products and services demanded by a "savvy" consumer market, or run the risk of another company replacing us. Competitive companies are always taking managed risk to innovate and pass your company or organization, offering a better, faster, cheaper, and more modern product. If you lose your place as a market leader due to internal struggles in your attempt to innovate, you will ensure the bozo has successfully accomplished his objectives. If the bozos are successful once, their chances of continuing to hurt your innovation efforts will increase.
Bozos only serve the purpose of dragging down an organization through endless complaints, justifications for refusing change, and comments about the "old days" when "things were better." We have to limit the Bozo-factor in our planning, while ensuring adequate due diligence is maintained. In a worst case bozos will simply refuse to perform tasks associated with new product development and rollout ? sabotaging your efforts to move the company ahead.
Look for the Signs of Bozos in Your Office
Bozos are fairly easy to identify. They are the people who generally use phrases like:
? "Its not my job"
? "I haven't been trained"
? "We've always done it this way"
? "Why should we change?"
? "It won't work"
? "It is impossible"
? "Nobody else is doing it"
? "I haven't enough time to learn a new job or technique"
? and many other similar phrases
The bozo is dangerous in other ways. While you are trying to innovate and move your company ahead in the market, Bozos are diligently trying to "rally" the other employees around their justification for not supporting change. Most employees fully understand if they are not always learning and trying to improve themselves, eventually somebody will replace them ? but the bozo wants to contribute to their potential unemployment situation by dragging them along into a condition where management must either decide to go around them, over them, or in the worst case "through them" to accomplish company or organizational objectives.
If in your business planning you bypass bozos, use good due diligence, study your market conditions, trends, and futures ? you can avoid the bozo factor in business planning. To paraphrase the creed of the French Foreign Legion (March or Die), to survive in the global economy and market place all companies must constantly plan for innovation, providing a product that is better than the competition ? where ever that competition may be. Innovate or die ? through managed risk.
(About the Author ? John Savageau is a managing director at CRG-West, responsible for managing operations and architecture for several of the largest telecommunications interconnect facilities in the US, including One Wilshire in Los Angeles.
More than $117 billion passed hands from Internet shoppers to... Read More
Why cut costs now? Efforts are multiplying to cut costs... Read More
Whether you are seeking capital for your company or are... Read More
Before becoming a netpreneaur, I was an entrepreneur. First, I... Read More
Have you ever done a SWOT analysis? No, it's not... Read More
In 1989, Sony founded its Institute of Wisdom at the... Read More
Twice a year, Bill Gates goes to a remote island... Read More
One Research Scientist at the Hewlett-Packard (HP) Imaging Systems laboratory... Read More
Many movies have been made about the tragic story of... Read More
1. Largest Selection -One way that you can make your... Read More
Microsoft Great Plains, former Great Plains Dynamics is excellent fit... Read More
So what makes a vision successful? Everyday companies try to... Read More
With a heightened awareness of opportunity, ideas can often be... Read More
Entrepreneurs often give little if any consideration to their computer... Read More
Microsoft Great Plains does wonderful ERP job for horizontal markets... Read More
Too much goal setting and strategic planning can leave you... Read More
You have heard that there is extra money on the... Read More
When in doubt, cut that out! Yeah, yea, doubting Thomas... Read More
Is there really anything as a problem? Does chaos or... Read More
The goal of almost every business owner is to generate... Read More
There is so much small business information available today that... Read More
Many business start-up kits or consultants will tell you one... Read More
I am surprised how few sales professionals, independent consultants, and... Read More
There are no "rules of thumb" in the pursuit of... Read More
Private equity firms have raised so much capital over the... Read More
If you are a successful franchise of a large franchise... Read More
If you've ever listened to Warren Buffett talk about investing,... Read More
Business seems to drop, slow or even stop during the... Read More
It is always said "If you Fail to Plan, you... Read More
If you're a solo professional like I am, you know... Read More
No matter what product or service you provide you will... Read More
In this small article we'll concentrate on farmers associations and... Read More
"Begin with the end in mind," says Stephen Covey in... Read More
I. INTRODUCTIONThe term resilience, which is of frequent use in... Read More
Diversify - to make diverse, give variety, to balance, to... Read More
Why do so many companies languish and watch as their... Read More
Twice a year, Bill Gates goes to a remote island... Read More
The decision to sell, or not to sell your business... Read More
Writing a business plan can be tricky when all the... Read More
A menu is the foundation of any restaurant; Guests will... Read More
Here's a really simple way to make sure your plans... Read More
Many of Ohio's downtown areas are in need of upgrading... Read More
So what makes a vision successful? Everyday companies try to... Read More
What do Mark Victor Hansen, Robert Allen, Anthony Robbins, Andrew... Read More
Making money doesn't make your reputation... your reputation makes you... Read More
Scenario OneDuring a recent presentation, a business owner was given... Read More
In most business plans, no matter how striking the idea,... Read More
Writing a Business Plan these days is tough, venture capitalists... Read More
A piano tuner recently moved to Buffalo, NY, and would... Read More
1. Largest Selection -One way that you can make your... Read More
If you are a manufacturer wanting to use your business... Read More
Succession planning, like any business acumen, is both an art... Read More
Microsoft Great Plains, former Great Plains Dynamics is excellent fit... Read More
One of the key challenges for any business is to... Read More
Note to Northwest Airlines ? It's not about fuel costsFor... Read More
In Ohio: besides the 3-Cs you should look at Akron,... Read More
If you are a successful franchise of a large franchise... Read More
Q: A key investor in my business has suggested that... Read More
Many of us are discouraged by the networking events that... Read More
Creativity is one of the greatest tools for success in... Read More
Microsoft Great Plains does wonderful ERP job for horizontal markets... Read More
How are you feeling today? Good, not so good, great?... Read More
There are no "rules of thumb" in the pursuit of... Read More
Remember reading "Alice in Wonderland?"She asks the Cheshire Cat, "which... Read More
This week I coached a wonderfully lovely woman I'll call... Read More
When looking at Akron carefully one cannot help but notice... Read More
Strategic Planning |