Good People by Anthony Tjan

Author:Anthony Tjan
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Published: 2017-04-04T13:19:01+00:00

GOING AGAINST OUR SHORT-TERM BIAS

The Road goes ever on and on

Down from the door where it began.

Now far ahead the Road has gone,

And I must follow, if I can,

Pursuing it with eager feet,

Until it joins some larger way

Where many paths and errands meet.

And whither then? I cannot say.

J. R. R. TOLKIEN12

There are countless other areas in which we exhibit a short-term bias. Consider eating, health, and rehabilitation. America has some of the world’s worst eating habits; we consume fast food, supersized portions, processed junk foods, and on-the-go energy shots, all because we’re seeking the quickest possible fix. The pharmaceutical and medical industries don’t fare much better, with their never-ending stream of prescription and over-the-counter drugs that target symptoms rather than causes. Media and marketing suggest that there is always an instant solution for anything we’re told is wrong with our bodies, which is part of the reason America leads the world in total number of plastic surgery procedures. But our short-term bias hurts us most by cutting short the development of our goodness and our quest for wholeness.

Goodness isn’t something you can turn on and off with an on-demand app or remote. The values of truth, compassion, and wholeness come from an internal place, and their realization requires stoicism, commitment, and a belief in the value of long-term results. Along the way, not surprisingly, come distractions and temptations. Living with conflict, ambiguity, and adversity isn’t pleasant, which is why many people like to apply temporary Band-Aids. We forget that good things take time to ripen and mature, and that great things take even longer. What things worth doing can really be done quickly and easily?

True, business building sometimes requires quick decisions with near-term impact. But these decisions are the relatively easy ones! For example, we might see a gap in a product feature and allocate budget to fill it—done. An employee might be a clear misfit and cultural disaster—so fire fast. Even some larger decisions, like choosing to acquire a longtime partner who comes to you first after being approached by a competitor, can be made with lightning speed.

The problem is that we want every decision to be as quick and simple as these previous examples. But developing character and goodness, building purpose, and transforming a company take time and patience. Unfortunately, we tend not to fully realize or appreciate those defining values of goodness until many years later, when we are able to see them expressed longitudinally over long timescales. When I started working to transform the Thomson organization with Dick Harrington, we could not have imagined we’d be able to change as much as we did, let alone acquire Reuters. I remember Dick telling me that, given the sheer number of people involved and how long it would take for this shift in cultural mind-set to set in, we would have to be patient, honest, and empathetic with those people who had worked at the company for years during a very different period in its history.

No shortcuts exist to goodness and character, just as there are no shortcuts for deep skill sets and competencies.

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