WHY TRIM THE ENDS OFF YOUR ROAST?You
may have heard about the new wife who was making her first roast (ignore the
stereotypes - it's an old story). Just before she put it into the oven, she
neatly cut off a slice from each end, tossed them in the bin and put the roast
into the oven. Her husband was intrigued and asked why she had done that.
"Mom
taught me to do that," she replied. "She always did it but never said
why. We'll have to ask her." Mother
in law was duly consulted. "Granny taught me that," was her response
when asked. "She always did it with roasts she made for Sunday lunch.
You'll have to ask her," Mom said. "Granny,
why did you teach Mom to cut off the two ends of the roast before putting it in
the oven?" asked the newly wed of Granny when she saw her. "Good
heavens, I didn't tell your mother to do it. I used to cut off the ends of
my roasts because my oven was too small and that was the only way I could
get the roast into the oven," quipped Gran. How
many of us are unthinkingly cutting the ends off our roasts (often the best
part), because we accept without question that the way we're doing something is
the only way to do it, regardless of the fact that the landscape has shifted
under our feet and that new and different factors are continually coming into
play as changes in people, demands, circumstances and the environment unfold? Repeating
the inefficiencies of previous generations without question will condemn us to
be prisoners of the past. Very few breakthroughs come from following the same
old rules. It's the people who challenge conventional wisdom who achieve
breakthroughs which benefit all humanity. My
English professor once said, "Rules are for fools, geniuses break
them!" He
wasn't encouraging people to break the laws of the land nor any moral laws for
that matter. What he was saying was that it's a fool who blindly follows the
same old way of doing things without considering whether there are better ways
of doing things. It's the genius who breaks with convention and looks at new
ways of doing something. It
was Einstein who said that insanity was doing the same thing over and over, yet
expecting a different result. Make
a point this week of looking at your own and your company's plans, procedures
and policies which have been in place for some time. Look at the way you are
doing your job. Look at the way you are living your life. Are these ways still
relevant and valid in their present forms and in these present circumstances?
Will they serve you well into the near future? If not, start a process which
enables you and all appropriate parties to discuss what should be changed and
then work towards communicating and implementing the changes. If
not, you may just be trimming the ends off the roast of your and others'
predecessors! Make
a change this week! Alan
Hosking |