Grow Your Business

Looking at the large collection of liquids still being confiscated by TSA at airports made me wonder where travelers had been hiding to be oblivious to the size restriction rules, which have been in effect for years.

So I asked one of the agents the other day as I was getting redressed after inspection what was the most common reason people gave him for the oversized liquid containers.

He smiled and said most everyone tells him either they didn’t realize the item was in there or that the rules were still effect. He went on to say, “People just don’t pay attention.”

I had to ask about the unopened bottle of vodka and the bottle of Bloody Mary mix. He said the man told him in-flight drinks were too expensive so he was bringing his own. He kept pleading that it was OK because the seals hadn’t been broken. It didn’t matter. That was an expensive detail that passenger overlooked.

Later that day I received a free restaurant meal because the waiter failed to give the kitchen the correct order.

At the bar at that same place, two men and two women waited on tables to open. The ladies asked for the bar check, signed for it and went to their table. The bartender came back to see the two guys still sitting there and realized she thought all four were together. The ladies were charged for the drinks of the two guys as well. The lady paying didn’t even notice the error!

What is going on?

Our brains process information differently than they used to. We take shallow bites of information from the internet and the news channels. We multi-task to the point of distraction. We are doing things so much faster that we don’t go as deep in our thinking as we once did. Therefore, we are confusing details such as travel rules, order specifics, who is on what check AND paying a check without checking it!

To become known in the workplace is to be able to do something of value others don’t do well. As our society becomes more shallow in how it processes information, as it becomes less focused on the details, the person who is a detail dynamo becomes a significant asset.

Details are where great innovation begins. In the details are where problems can be prevented. In the details of every organization are significant savings waiting to be found. Become the Detail Dynamo or hire one on your team of talent to have a disappearing commodity that will become even more valuable as business moves even faster.

Technology is driving the pace of change at speeds the human brain can hardly keep up with. Change is happening with the subtlety of a hurricane. No longer are we able to make mere modifications to try to keep up. At this pace we have to be making transformations.

Transformations are not quiet or gradual. They rip and tear. They remove comfort zones in a whoosh of activity. They leave those who prefer the “old ways” screaming and hollering for what used to be.

What we are seeing happening in Madison Wisconsin is just the beginning of numerous transformations we are going to see for years to come until dramatic transformations are the norm.

The Great Recession wasn’t just a corrective action; it was a signal of the beginning of transformative times. A goliath organization like GM filed for bankruptcy, the American economy teetered on the brink of disaster requiring banking policies to be rewritten, and the foundation of the American dream, increasing home value and stable jobs, was turned to ruble and has to be rebuilt. We thought these things would take years to happen, not weeks. This isn’t a shift; this is what transformation looks like.

The protesters and fleeing elected officials of Wisconsin are feebly trying to stop a category 5 hurricane with protest signs and loud words. Instead, they need to be spending time on working how to thrive once this transformation removes unions as they know them. Other state governments will soon be following the same path as Wisconsin. Are those unions preparing for the transformation or preparing to battle to stop the transformation? You can’t stop progress.

What used to take decades to change is now happening in a matter of months. It’s not just products such as the iPad being made obsolete within weeks of its debut (by the iPad 2) it is all aspects of our lives. We are now seeing the pace of change in this century. How we work, how we spend money, and how we interact is in the process of transforming. It’s going to be quite a ride.