Rose Matlock Consulting

     Two children visiting a petting zoo with their parents.  Both of them dutifully hold out their hands to receive snacks to feed the inquisitive goats, sheep, chickens and rabbits who roamed aimlessly around the pen.  What an idyllic scene, yes?  As the children entered the pen they each went their own direction.  The first little boy, followed closely by his mother, approached a goat and began to feed him single bites.  The goat eagerly took each one, softly nuzzling the young child.  Mother smiled and the boy was delighted.

     The second little boy strode valiantly towards a different goat.  He too offered up single bites and the goat took them.  However, for reasons that may never be clear, the goat grew impatient with the morseled approach and in his hasty move to grab the rest of the snack, bit the young boy drawing blood.  The young child screamed in shock more than agony.  The father rushed forward, pulling his son into his arms, quickly joined by mom, and they both reassured and soothed the boy, telling him he was safe now, the bad goat could not get to him anymore. 

     For the rest of their days, the two boys, who grew up in the same house, same parents, same schools had one thing very different about them.  How they thought about goats.  The first little boy, upon reflection, thought of that beautiful day, his loving parents and brother and a wonderful day with some farm animals.  The other little boy, instead remembered a vicious attack by an angry goat, ruining what could have been a fine day.  Since that time, anything having to do with livestock but especially goats fills him with a fear that causes mental anguish if not a physical dread.  Same day.  Same parents but such different viewpoints and perhaps most importantly those experiences are still shaping them today.

     This is nothing more than a fable (your intrepid author has visited many a petting zoo and emerged unscathed) but the lesson it teaches is very real.  Our experiences shape us.  Many times, it is positive.  We win a big piece of business through a particular marketing campaign.  A certain employment ad leads to a phenomenal hire.  We establish a  strategy and development plan that leads to huge growth in sales and morale.  All of these experiences build on themselves in a virtuous circle that leads to greater momentum for future decision making.  However, they can also blind us to other alternatives, process improvements and opportunities that do not fit our current paradigm and experiences. 

     The first little boy in our story cannot envision a visit to the petting zoo that does not go incredibly well.  Sure, he’s heard the story of his brother but he has not experienced it first hand.  It is simply not real to him and so does not shape his decision making.  Leaders and managers are not immune to this positive stimulus blindness.  A tendency to imagine the best possible outcome not because it the most likely but because it is the only one they have known.  One, need look no further than the most recent debacle involving mortgage backed securities (MBS).  CEO’s, boards of directors and risk managers seemed blind to the possibility that home prices could turn south.  Certainly it had occurred before (in fact the Depression of the 1930’s can be partially attributed to a real estate bubble) but the success of MBS’ through the 1990’s creates an echo chamber of success that screens the possibility of failure and since no down-line managers want to be labeled as the “negative nancy’s” of the team, group think prevails.

     Another example of this happened in the early 1990’s at Quaker Foods.  Snapple was created in 1972 in New York and eventually became the category king of ready to drink (RTD) teas.  In 1993, Snapple went public but within 12 months began to run into problems as the market for RTD teas quickly became crowded.  Seeing the weakness, Quaker stepped in and bought the company for $1.7 billion representing a  staggering 28.6 times earning and 330% of revenues.  Could the purveyors of oatmeal be blind?  What would have caused them to step into the breach against competitors such as Pepsi Co and Coca Cola at such a rich price?  Gatorade…that’s why.  When Quaker purchased Gatorade back in 1983 and took it from $90 million in sales to over $2 billion.  Success begets success right?  If we made Gatorade a household staple surely Snapple cannot be far behind.

     Quaker made two classic mistakes.  First, they assumed the success of Gatorade was an outgrowth of their management and branding.  Was a portion of the achievement attributable to their foresight and strategy?  Sure, but certainly it was also a case of having the right product at the right time (as is so many times the case).  The right product combined with Quaker’s distribution network spelled winner.  The second mistake was to think Snapple was Gatorade.  I don’t know about you but when I get done with a workout, the first I think is…Tea!?!?  No, Snapple is a beverage enjoyed in an entirely different context and perhaps by a different group of people.  In fact, much of Snapple’s success was due to catchy, off kilter advertising (remember Wendy Kaufman, the receptionist at Snapple?)  Gatorade and the way it was marketed, distributed and sold was the polar opposite of the niche-y, sheik nature of Snapple.  Trouble’s brewing!   Quaker quietly sold Snapple in 1997 just three years later…and at a loss.

     What about the other little boy.  The second child’s bad experience has blinded him just as much from the possibility that not all goats are evil.  His negative encounter has colored all future interactions he has had; both the real and the theoretical.  Many leaders and managers suffer this same fate as success blinds us so does failure.  Dead ends, poor outcomes and events that have previously invited criticism become behaviors to avoid and the physic pain associated with them becomes a mental electric fence keeping us from opportunities.   Consider  this thought:

In the struggle to hold onto the past we often miss the opportunity to grasp the future

     Too many times, leaders and managers ignore opportunity by being overconfident in worn out ways of accomplishment that blind them to change or by avoiding that which they remember to be so painful.  The truth and frankly the genius of success is too fall somewhere in between.  Organizations, like the pendulum of a clock, swing endlessly back and forth between these two extremes and the challenge for leaders is to pick the right point to act as well as the right issue to stimulate their teams.  With careful self reflection, you can identify your own petting zoo, your own goats that seem to keep you from the extremes.  Examine these mental maps and ask yourself:

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    • What am I missing by just enacting the same strategy and plan again and again?
    • What am I most afraid of and how is that influencing the decisions that I make?
    • What are those that I lead most afraid of and how is that influencing their behavior?

     Thoughtful time spent on these issue and more can help you unlock your potential.

Christopher Matlock, is available to train and speak with your group, management team or upcoming conference.  Email or call for rates and availability.

chris@rosematlock.com              

623-621-0875

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