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Management Side
Week of 5 January 15: Confederacy of the Dunces

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There is a book called "Confederacy of the Dunces" by John Kennedy Toole. The book was published in 1980, eleven years after Toole committed suicide. It is set in New Orleans, and centers on a coterie of quirky individuals who essentially see the world as they want to see it. Of course, this is cockeyed by a normal metric, hence, the "confederacy of the dunces."

I find the overarching theme of this book applicable nearly everywhere. In family life, my business, my clients' businesses, you name it.

Let me explain. In nearly every human endeavor in which you engage, you tend to continuously talk to and receive comments from the same small group of people. I don't care where this is--you can even be the CEO of the Mega Paper Company--you only talk to and listen to a regular, tiny group of people. This group is your personal confederacy of the dunces. No doubt you belong to several of these--at work, at home, at school; anywhere you gather regularly with other people, you have your own little unique confederacy of the dunces.

You think alike, you reinforce each others' ideas and you come to view the rest of the world as off its rocker, so to speak. Sometimes this is called "drinking your own bathwater" or "believing your own press." No matter the name, the result is the same--lousy results if this is all to which you listen.

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A great company president, Bill Fondow of Black Clawson Shartle Division, long since retired, had another way of putting this. I was visiting him one time and he was fidgety. He said to me, "Jim, you know what is wrong with this company right now?"

I hadn't a clue.

"We are spending too much time talking to ourselves--we need to get out and talk to the customers and prospects."

I am sure Bill made this happen.

If you can't figure out what is wrong with your company, your division or your department, get out and talk to more people. Talk to lots of people and, if you have the influence, have your confederacy of the dunces do the same thing. Then, sit down and talk about what others have told you. Sift their comments like fine sand. Look at them from different angles. Then figure out what your coterie needs to do to improve your outcomes.

Now, let me caution you before you rush off to gather this new knowledge. Make sure you fling your net wide and far. Get lots of opinions. Avoid obtaining just a few fresh opinions and just considering them. Just a few results in the danger of getting a few that are wrong. The law of large numbers is at work here--out of large numbers you will see what you need to do next.

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Does this take effort? Of course it does. But it can quickly result in great outcomes, much quicker than continuing down an introverted path with just a few opinions fed on one another continuously.

There is one way to shortcut this, and no, I am not saying this as a plug for my own consulting services. It is this--a good consultant can bring an entire platter of new ideas for doing the same old tasks, all without breaking one confidentiality agreement. The do it by saying, "have you ever considered doing task x this way? Or this way?" They can rapidly suggest a platter full of good ideas you may never have considered. Still, I recommend that the best way is to talk to lots of people and then have lots of internal discussions about what you have learned.

Yet one final caution, don't discuss so long that you become paralyzed. You must act and you must act with all deliberate speed.

Do you belong to a confederacy of the dunces? Take our quiz this week and let us know. You may take it here.

For safety this week, we are constantly seeking new ways to be safer. Everyone should be reading up on new safety techniques and considerations continuously.

Be safe and we will talk next week.

You can own your Nip Impressions Library by ordering "Raising EBITDA ... the lessons of Nip Impressions."


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