I had worked flat out for 16 hours writing up a market share summary. It went through countless iterations as it worked its way up my management ladder. Finally, my boss’s boss’s boss’s boss signed off on it and asked me to give him 12 copies to forward. Since it was after 4:30 and all the secretaries had left, I made the copies myself. When I brought him back the copies, he took one look and nearly took my head off because I’d angled the staples wrong.
At first I was shocked. Then mad that he was focused on such a trivial thing. The important thing was the thinking that explained the results.
Of course, I was wrong. The important thing was everything. Everything communicates. And at Procter & Gamble all memos were delivered in the same format – with staples going the same way. This reinforced the consistent discipline.
Whatever organization you’re joining, remember that everything communicates, meaning that internal consistency is crucial. You don’t want to send one message by saying one thing and another by doing something else. Relationships are built on trust. Consistency is a trust builder. Inconsistency is jarring. If, for example, discipline is important to you, it should be important to you in everything. Figure out which way the staples should run in your new organization. Line them up right. Build trust.
